JAPANiCAN.com > JAPANiCAN.com Blog > Category : Winter
It all started in 1950 with 6 snow sculptures made by local high school students. Now, the Sapporo Snow Festival is in its 64th year and has risen to the prestigious status of being an international festival. Pulling around 2 million visitors every year, with huge ice sculptures of landmark buildings like the Taj Mahal and statues of famous manga characters. The festival is split into 3 sites throughout Sapporo City: Odori, Tsudome and Susukino. Odori hosts the main section of the festival, with sculptures illuminated until 22:00. Tsudome features snow slides and mazes and is open 9:00-17:00. Susukino hosts an ice sculpture contest and is illuminated until midnight. The festival dates for 2013 are February 5th-11th, Sapporo is fairly cold at this time of year with temperatures of around minus 3 degrees Celcius with a good deal of snow.
Snow Country is made up of seven cities and towns that are covered by heavy snowfall close tohalf of the year. This rather unique meteorology has in turn led to a rich, unique culture that can be experienced to this day. From skiing tohot springs, there is also a wealth of activities todiscover in Snow Country. Escape the everyday and refresh with a relaxing trip toa Snow Country resort!
JAPANiCAN.com staffer Nick recently joined the Snow Monkey Tour. Read about his experience below.
Running through Tokyo station in the morning rush hour with a backpack on, past the obligatory bustle of commuters on their way to work, I started to question whether it had been worth stopping to take a photo of the sunrise on my iPhone earlier.