Sapporo Snow Festival begins

The 67th Sapporo Snow Festival began on Friday. The annual festival, which will feature around 200 ice and snow sculptures in Odori Park, the grounds of Community Dome Tsudome and the main street in Susukino, will run until Feb 11.

Festival organizers said they expect 2.3 million people to visit the festival.

The festival had humble beginnings in 1950 when local middle school and high school students created six snow sculptures at Odori Park. The very first event drew more than 50,000 people, and ever since, the Sapporo Snow Festival has become a winter tradition for the city.

The festival started to gain worldwide acclaim after the 1972 Winter Olympics were held in Sapporo.

One of the biggest additions was the International Snow Sculpture Contest, where international teams compete in a snow statue-building contest that lasts three days. Last year, the winner of the contest was Team Korea, with Team China as the runner-up.

This year, tourists can look forwarding to seeing ice and snow sculptures that include the man-eating giants of anime "Attack on Titan," Goku of "Dragon Ball," and Japanese rugby star Ayumu Goromaru, making his famous pose before he kicks a goal.

The festival will also include the 43rd International Snow Sculpture Contest, with 12 international teams representing Australia, Daejeon Metropolitan City (Korea),  Finland, Hawaii, Indonesia, Latvia, Macao, Malaysia, Poland, Portland（United States,  Singapore and Thailand. The contest will take place from Feb 5 to Feb 7, with the judging and award ceremony on Feb 8.

This year, flying of drones over festival sites is strictly prohibited by the Civil Aeronautics Law.

© Japan Today