Hello to everyone who is reading on our blog! Frozen? Maddening because of the weather? And the Sapporo citizens and guests are enjoying it, in contrast. Today, on February, 5, Sapporo Snow Fest starts. It is an annual event held in Japan for a week, from 5 till 11 February. This fest attracts every year approximately 2 million visitors from Japan and abroad to see. Well, that’s no big surprise. Everyone may have heard of ice sculptures, in fact, but have you ever heard of snow sculptures? If no, it’s time to visit Sapporo! Or at least read about it…
The Sapporo Snow Festival is considered to be one of the most famous and long-awaited Japan’s winter events. For the whole next week, the streets of Sapporo, the largest city on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, would be turned into a real winter wonderland, the Snow Queen’s palace of snow and ice. Breathtaking snow sculptures are presented in Odori Park, Susukino, and Tsudome that are the main sites of the Snow Fest. Ice dragons, eagles, snow bears, different fish-filled ice sculptures, absolutely amazing statues of the world celebrities (Michael Jackson is a top popular), sports mascots, Chinese pagodas, ancient medieval castles are impressive. These sculptures differ in sizes and shapes; they are made in unprecedented detail. It should be mentioned that a close attention to the finest details is the Sapporo Snow Fest’s main characteristics. The first Sapporo Fest was held in 1950, and the total amount of exhibits was 6 only. It was an event led by the Sapporo high school students. After the Winter Olympics, held in Japan in 1972, the snow fest has become awfully popular because of construction large detailed buildings, and gained a great international popularity as well.
International Snow Sculpture Contests and Ice Carving Contests are held annually as the part of Sapporo Snow Festival. Teams of different countries from all over the world participate to demonstrate their snow art skills in creating a masterpiece of snow and ice. Last year contest winner team was from Thailand – they created a sculpture of elephant. This year favorite has not yet been defined.