The Sapporo Snow Festival is usually held during the first or second week of February in Sapporo (The event lasts for a week). Teams from all over the world participate in this yearly winter event to showcase their various ice and snow sculpting skills to "wow" the crowd and judges. The festival also attracts more than two million tourists each year as they come to observe hundreds of ice and snow sculptures in Odori Park, Cenrtal Sapporo, Satoland and Susukino sites.



The snow festival started a humble beginning as six local high school students built their own snow statues in Odori Park in the year 1950. Later on, the JSDF (Japan Self-Defense Forces) in the nearby base participated and built giant snow sculptures. Little did they know that they unintentionally lit the fire of aspiring and professional ice sculptors to compete with each other and make one of the most distinctive winter events a reality. The best part of this event is that you can view it for "Free"

Also, DO NOT FORGET TO BRING A CAMERA! You will regret going to this event if you do. It's almost impossible not to take a few photos of the surrounding areas and post this on your favorite social network sites like twitter, facebook and instagram. I'm sure your friends will be delighted to see these sculptures even if they didn't see them personally, so make sure to keep snapping those pictures for their sake!



Yes! You can consider it as the largest snow museum in Japan that you can access during this time of the year. If you want to see the massive ice and snow sculptures, it would be best to visit Odori Park (Odori Park is the main venue of the event). The Susukino site which is a well known night-life district features over a hundred ice sculptures that line the streets (it is also Sapporo's largest entertainment district). Needless to say, you can enjoy them during the day or wait for night to come and watch the gorgeous ice sculpture come to life, with the help of colorful light illuminations.


Aside from enjoying the event, you should also taste the local food of Sapporo. It's inevitable that you will get hungry as you stroll around the city. You have the option of visiting the restaurants and cafes in the city or you can drag your feet to the "Hokkaido Food Palace" which features local foods that are very popular to tourists. Here you'll find some delicious seafood specialties like sea urchin, crabs, scallops, etc.



Going to Sapporo and looking at these ice and snow sculptures makes you want to sing the songs from the Disney movie Frozen like "Do you wanna build a snowman?" and "Let it Go!". In fact do that! some people might join in the fun and before you know it, you'll find yourself surrounded by tourists who feel the same way like you do!

Well then, join me again next time as we take a journey to find the most interesting things that is uniquely Japan!