Sapporo Snow Festival begins
SAPPORO —
The Sapporo Snow Festival got under way on Tuesday. The 64th annual festival, which will be held until Feb 11, features 216 ice and snow sculptures in Odori Park, the grounds of Community Dome Tsudome and the main street in Susukino.
The temperature was minus 3 degrees as the festival opened in the morning, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
One of the highlights is a 10-meter-high ice replica of the Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo, which is set to open in April. Another statue bound to be popular with locals is one of Nippon Ham Fighters rookie Shohei Otani.
Festival organizers said they expect 2 million people to visit the festival.
See coverage on GaijinPot.
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14 Comments
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-1
nostromo
20 years ago this was pretty well the only ice/snow sculpture festival of any major size in Asia.... the content has changed little and in fact there are fewer statues in Odori Park than there used to be - now there are more "stages" for "idol" performances and other meaningless commercial pap.... (not to mention one whole block of Odori devoted to hassling people to sign a petition for the return of the northern islands).... In the meantime, places such as Harbin in China have moved ahead and produced a snow/ice festival that attracts more global attention than Sapporo.... as with many things in Japan, while the world moves on, they continue to tread the same old worn path...
2
papigiulio
Definitely on my list to visit. One day. Gotta buy a thicker coat first.
-1
taj
Really? Is that true? I'd been thinking it's about time for me to go see this, but I think that would rather annoy me. A whole block?
1
Argus Tuft
I wouldn't let it bother you too much, it's a fantastic city and whether it's the biggest or the best snow festival in Asia, or a few people with clipboards are hanging around won't diminish your enjoyment of it at all.
Great city, great food and great people up there. The best advice I could give is to go either the week before it starts (well..too late for that now), or the week after it finishes. You can still see all the sculptures and the hotel prices are much cheaper either side of the matsuri week.
3
Nessie
I can guarantee Chinese get a warmer welcome at the Sapporo Snow Festival than Japanese get at the Harbin one.
2
Peter Payne
I love Sapporo, and went there last March to enjoy the ramen and the still-cold weather. If you ever go, the best place to get ramen is ラーメン共和国, a collection of Showa Era-themed shops on the 10th floor of the ESTA building next to Sapporo Station. I wish I were there right now.
2
Amanda Harlow
DON'T go a week after and expect to see the statues...all knocked down on the last night. Best place is the made-by-local-groups and visiting foreigners areas...and other winter festivals at the same time - Otaru!
3
FightingViking
Not even one single photo JT ?
4
wipeout
The Harbin ice festival started in the 1960s, and was already very well known as a tourist attraction when foreign tourists started visiting China in large numbers in the 1980s.
So, no.
2
KariHaruka
My first Snow Festival since moving to Sapporo and loving it so far! Off to Otaru in the next few days too.
2
Daijoboots
Thanks for the grumble. You might want to check out the following link for example which has video of the light show they are doing for the first time this year.
http://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/cont/video/?c=event&v=398167990002
5
avigator
I will have my own Sapporo festival tomorrow night here in Tokyo when the snow falls and I drink my Sapporo beer.
2
taj
Quite a few grumblers aside, it looks like it's still something very much worth seeing. Thanks for the input everyone.
0
Nessie
Raman Kyowa-koku, a.k.a., Republic of Tourist Trapland, but not bad as tourist traps go.
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