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Frommer's Guide
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FEATURES AND EVENTS
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Sapporo Snow Festival
by Tom Clynes
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Held Annually: One week in mid-February.
Locale: Sapporo, Japan
Nearest Airport:
Okadama Airport (OKD) and New Chintose Airport (CTS)
General Information:
Japan National Tourist Organization tel 212-757-5641 or 212-307-6754; Sapporo Snow Festival Executive Committee, tel 011-81-11-211-2377
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For seven days each February, hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures transform Japan's northernmost large city into a winter dreamland of crystal and white. Some two million people converge on Sapporo, oohing and aahing over the huge figures, which are meticulously sculpted from trucked-in mountains of snow. Three sites around the city--Odori Park, Susukino Street, and Makomanai Civil Defense Base--feature the giant figures, some of which are several stories tall. At Odori Park, teams from around the world compete in building snow castles, while local groups create their own statues nearby. The festival also includes a Snow Queen Contest, concerts, dances, and a fashion show of apparel from the island of Hokkaido and Japan's northern region.•
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Inside Scoop |
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Sapporo is a world-famous brewing city; while you're there, be sure to quench your thirst with a visit to the Sapporo Brewery Museum and Beer Garden (reservations recommended; tel 742-1531). The Beer Garden's 19th-century red brick building has a stately atmosphere--which is vigorously challenged by an "all-the-beer-you-can-drink," and "all-the-Gengis Khan-you-can-eat" menu.
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