The Sapporo Snow Festival: The Synopsis
Last weekend Brian, Sydney and I flew up to Hokkaido, the large northern island of Japan, to visit Sapporo for the 58th Snow Festival. Sapporo is a relatively new city in Japan, with little ancient history. (Translation: there aren't as many shrines and temples.) In fact, the city was developed in the late 1800's by a Massachusetts city planner. The city is set up in a grid like many American cities and there's even a clock tower that looks like it belongs next to Faneuil Hall. The clock itself is actually from Boston!

If you are like me, when you think Sapporo, beer probably comes to mind. The first night we went to Sapporo Beer Garden and had a traditional "Genghis Kahn" meal, which was thin slices of lamb and vegetables that we grilled at our table. The grill is unique in that it looks like an upside-down bowl. It was all-you-can-eat-and-drink (Sapporo, of course) for 90 minutes. Oishi!

The first full day we awoke to a winter wonderland and we got our money's worth of snow...it snowed the whole day! We took a Sapporo city tour and our first stop was Hokkaido Shrine. At first Sydney wasn't too sure what to make of the slippery white stuff, but she was having fun in no time. Then due to the weather, in lieu of the planned gondola ride up a mountain, we visited the Sapporo Winter Sports Museum. As you may know, Sapporo hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics. And since every bus tour has a shopping scam, we were dropped off at a glorified mall for lunch and plenty of time to look around. Finally, we ended up at Odori Park, the central park of Sapporo and one of the three Snow Festival sites. (Two of the Festival sites were within walking distance of our hotel and one was a satellite location that we visited the last day by bus before going to the airport.)

The actual Snow Festival started the last day we were there (February 6), but the preparation was well under way during our whole trip. Large ice/snow sculptures are the main draw of the Festival--nearly 2 million people visit Sapporo each year to see them. Some are as large as actual buildings! We heard it took 80,000 truck loads of snow to make them.

The night before the festival started (our last night in Sapporo), the sculptures were illuminated. We walked the whole park and saw sculptures of Mickey Mouse and other Disney friends, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Thomas the Tank Engine, Ultraman (a Japanese comic hero from the 1960's), every animal you can imagine (unicorn, fish, turtle, polar bears), and more! We even saw a bar and a cafe made entirely of ice!

The second full day of our trip we went to Takino Snow Park for some sledding and snow tubing fun. We would've liked to cross country ski, but although Sydney goes just about everywhere in the backpack, that's where we drew the line. Well, she was so exhausted from missing her naps and going to bed late, that she actually fell asleep while tubing! Even the bumps at the end to slow you down didn't wake her. So we brought her to the indoor playground to take a nap...she slept through the sound of screaming children as well! But when she finally awoke, she enjoyed exploring the snow. She mostly had fun, but did get mad that she kept falling...and then couldn't get up (thanks in part due to the snow, the other part her borrowed 2-sizes-too-large Timberland boots)!

Our last day of the trip arrived and before heading to the airport, we went by bus to Sato-Land, the third site of the Snow Festival geared towards children. There was a snowman making station, an ice maze, and a large slide made of ice, tubing runs, and of course food vendors. Unfortunately it warmed up enough to rain so we didn't enjoy the slush as much as the snow!

As cold as it was outside (about 35 degrees Fahrenheit for a high), every building in Sapporo, including our hotel, was heated to a temperature of at least 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Never thought we'd say it, but our cold house has never felt so good!

(Stay tuned for more photos of the snow princess!)