Sapporo, Japan

Every February there is a winter wonderland of gigantic snow and ice sculptures.  There are palaces made of snow and snow stages big enough to hold performances on them.  All of the sculptures are lit up at night as a beautiful place to be under the stars.  Unfortunately for most tourists, this is in the winter and not necessarily next door to somewhere they are planning to visit.  With some research you’ll see that the festival is an amazing experience for the fun, sculptures, and winter fashion.

The snow festival takes place in Sapporo, the biggest city on the northernmost island of Japan – Hokkaido.  For a week in February, millions of people come see the gigantic snow sculptures that were created out of boxes of packed snow.  The three different areas of the festival cater to all visitors including ice slides and other fun things to do.

The main area of the festival is where the largest sculptures can be found, some of them literal palaces of snow.  There is actually a competition around creating the best sculptures that teams from all over the world participate in.  In February of 2010, the winner of the competition was Thailand, with the New Zealand team taking the runner up spot.  The winning statue was of a piece of Thai folklore called Kraigtong involving a crocodile man living in an underwater cave.

The festival can actually trace its beginnings back to 60 years ago when high school students built snow sculptures in Odori park.  Years later the military began creating sculptures in the park as well.  The military still plays a part in the construction of the snow sculptures in different ways, which is made more convenient by the fact that they have a base close to the park.

Although this northern island might not be the agenda on every visitor to Japan, it is a beautiful place with a lot to offer.  Besides the snow festival, it is also a great summer getaway with cooler temperatures and much (much) less humidity than most other places in Japan.  For this reason you will probably see quite a few Japanese residents visiting Hokkaido as well.  No matter when or where you find yourself there, it is clear that you will enjoy being able to discover Japan slowly.