Sapporo Snow Festival 2013!

by Kazu

I've just returned from the venue of the 64th Sapporo Snow Festival in Odori area of Sapporo City.
Approximately 2 million people visit and enjoy the festival where various kinds of culinary delights produced in Hokkaido can be savored.

Other than that, many statues and sculptures made with snow and ice are the biggest draws of this festival. Among the statues and sculptures, the huge ones made by self defense force of Japan in Sapporo City are what the citizens of Sapporo City and the tourists have been looking forward to seeing.
This year ISE Shrine in Mie Prefecture will change the building. So one of the huge statues has the theme "ISE Shrine, Trip to the Myths"    

 This is the snow statue of "Houheikan". "Houheikan " was the old guest house of Sapporo City and the first guest  was the emperor Hirohito of Showa Era. The original building is repaired in Nakajima Park of Sapporo City now. This year, from 17:00 to 22:00, the projection attraction can be seen on the wall of this statue. I heard that the projection show is the story of polar bear.  

The groups of citizens and visitors can make their own snow sculptures on the site if they get the permission issued by the steering committee of this festival.  

This is my favorite sculpture this year. Cupid ? I think this is the image character of mayonnaise Cupie.

The statue of the National Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall in Taiwan is below. It is made of ice, so it makes the blue color like the iceberg   in arctic area.

The direct flights which connect Bangkok and New Chitose International Airport have been established, so the sculpture of  "Wat Benchamabophit"(the marble temple) in Thailand was also built by the Self-Defense Force of Japan. Giant ice slides for kids were set in the venue.

I will post the photos of Hokkaido Winter Food Park in this area tomorrow. The precise information of Sapporo is at http://www.snowfes.com/english/place/index.html

It got fine in the afternoon. The general election of Sorachi sub-prefectural area is being held at the underground promenade in front of Sapporo JR station. Please visit and throw in your vote. Some kinds of present can be given to the voters.
Have a great weekend!