5 reasons on why we recommend you to join in the Sapporo Snow Festival
The first reason why we recommend the Sapporo Snow Festival: It is the most popular winter festival in Japan!
The Aomori Nebuta Festival, the Gion Festival in Kyoto, Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival in Fukuoka, Awa Odori Festival in Tokushima…
Many of the famous festivals in Japan are summer festival. As for winter festival, most of them are small-scale festivals such as semi-naked festival.
However, Sapporo Snow Festival continuously attracts more than 2.4 million visitors annually. Without a doubt, Sapporo Snow Festival is the biggest winter festival in Japan!
It is hard to play outside under the harsh winter conditions in Japan, but not at the Sapporo Snow Festival.
The second reason why we recommend the Sapporo Snow Festival: High quality snow sculptures
One of the main attractions of Sapporo Snow Festival is gigantic snow sculpture.
Some delicate snow sculptures created by the participants from Japan Ground Self-Defense Force or citizen volunteers are more than 15m tall.
In terms of popularity and the number of the visitors, Sapporo Snow Festival always enters in the top three at the ranking of Japanese festivals.
Sometime, even the world famous sightseeing spots became the subject of the snow sculptures.
If you find the famous sightseeing spots in your country at the Sapporo Snow Festival, you will surely be impressed by them!
The third reason why we recommend the Sapporo Snow Festival: You can enjoy the festival either in the afternoon or in the evening!
Many people will find it difficult to set up the schedule and secure the place when they want to enjoy the huge festival.
In some festivals, main event of the festival will end in 15 or 30 minutes, and if you fail to secure the unobstructed viewing spot, you could end up seeing the heads of the people in front of you at the crowded place during the whole festival.
If you are a foreign tourist, you may feel troublesome if you cannot communicate with local people in the place where you visit for the first time.
However, you will not fail to see the gigantic snow sculptures in the Sapporo Snow Festival.
Even if the train or flight was delayed and you have arrived late at night, you will see the snow sculptures that were being beautifully lighted up at night and you can also enjoy the famous event of “Snow Miku” which is the musical event with the snow sculpture of famous Japanese character “Hatsune Miku.”
The gigantic snow sculptures are placed in “Odori Site” and you are able to visit this place 24 hours a day (snow sculptures will be lighted up till 22:00).
There is also a “Tsudome Site” where every children and adults can play in the snow and “Susukino Site” where the exhibition of ice sculptures or several types of contests are being held.
Therefore, you can enjoy the Sapporo Snow Festival by simply staying in Sapporo.
The fourth reason why we recommend the Sapporo Snow Festival: Well prepared for foreign tourists!
Several preparations are under progress in Hokkaido for foreign tourists to comfortably travel around the region.
At the Sapporo Snow Festivals in 2014, direction boards at the event site and the travel guide for distribution were written in English.
One of the major complaints from foreign tourists is the lack of free Wi-Fi network environment in Japan. As the solution, in Hokkaido, NTT EAST provides 14 days of free Wi-Fi service called “Free Wi-Fi Hokkaido.”
https://hokkaido-happy-town.ntt-east.co.jp/wifi/
◆The fifth reason why we recommend the Sapporo Snow Festival: We can find a lot of delicious food in Hokkaido!
Many Japanese people think they can find a lot of delicious food in Hokkaido.
This means, Sapporo is the perfect place for foreign tourists who expect the delicious Japanese food.
Sapporo is not only famous for good Sushi, but there are also a lot of excellent dishes using fresh vegetables and meats.
During the Sapporo Snow Festival, “Hokkaido Winter Food Park” will appear on the center of Odori Site at the 6 chome venue (Sixth street district), so you do not have to worry for wasting your time to search restaurants.
Since the famous dish from Hokkaido is Genghis Khan (Mongolian mutton barbecue), even foreign tourists who cannot eat beef or pork for religious reasons can enjoy the delicious meat dish of Hokkaido.
<Conclusion>
Sapporo Snow Festival will be held every February.
During this period, many tourists will visit Hokkaido from both inside and outside of Japan. If you are planning to visit Hokkaido to see the Sapporo Snow Festival, we recommend you to reserve the hotel room earlier and carefully prepare with your travel plans.
Since you will be visiting the coldest region in Japan at the coldest period of Japan to visit Sapporo Snow Festival, you have to pay attention to your physical condition and prepare yourself with the cold weather.
You will also have to make sure to wear non-slippery shoes not to fall on the frozen street.
You are always welcome to visit Sapporo where you can find many delicious meals and beautiful places!
I hope you have a nice and safe trip!
<The history of Sapporo Snow Festival>
It was featured in the media of Japan in 1959 and became famous and popular in Japan. In 1972, thanks to the opportunity of Sapporo Olympic, Sapporo Snow Festival became known to the world.
Although there was a difficult time such as the Oil crisis, the Sapporo Snow Festival has been held every year since it started, and will held its 66th annual festival in 2015.
