I'll focus on four snow festivals here. The first one I'll cover is generally considered biggest and most famous in Japan, which takes place in the city of Sapporo (札幌), located in Hokkaido Prefecture. I'll also touch on Otaru, a small city near Sapporo. The following three festivals I'll write about are smaller, more regional ones found in Aomori City (青森市), Hirosaki (弘前), and Yasumiya/Lake Towada (十和田湖). It's a good mix but certainly not all in the region. Other notable events I never had a chance to see are the Iwate Snow Festival (Iwate Prefecture), Namahage Sedo Festival (Akita Prefecture), and Yokote Snow Festival (Akita).
Sapporo Snow Festival (さっぽろ雪まつり)
The Sapporo Snow Festival is an awesome spectacle that draws millions of Japanese and foreign visitors every year. According to the official website, the first festival was held in 1950 and featured just a few modest snow statues built by high school students. For the next couple decades, the festival grew in scale and popularity. It became internationally known in 1972 when the city hosted the Winter Olympic Games; two years later it began the International Snow Sculpture Contest which various countries still participate in today.
Currently, three sites are used including Odori Park, Tsudome, and Susukino. Odori Park is the main festival area which stretches from east to west through the center of downtown Sapporo. The site features the biggest snow and ice sculptures, as well as a variety of fun events. Tsudome is the second largest site and consists two areas; you can take a rest inside the community dome, or play in the outside area that has huge snow slides and snowrafting. Lastly, Susukino is the area specifically dedicated to ice sculptures and features a few additional events like the Ice Sculpture Contest. At night, many areas are beautifully illuminated.
During my visit there in 2013, I became friends with a university student there named Shodai and stayed in his apartment for a few nights. He was an great host and showed me around which was really nice. I also meet a lot of other friendly people as well during the trip, both new and old friends. I have many lasting memories from this trip.
Sapporo Side Trip - Otaru
Otaru is a small city about 30 minutes northwest of Sapporo that also has it's own winter festival. It's significantly more modest than the Sapporo festival but is quite charming. The city itself is known for its historical buildings and arts and crafts industries. I won't go into detail but just wanted to mention that I volunteered here and it was a lot of fun! I helped prepare the grounds for visitors and built small snow lanterns, which we later lit with candles. One of the prettiest things to see here is the canal, which is filled with floating candles and looks very beautiful at night.
Aomori City (青森雪祭り)
Although it's the capital city of the prefecture, the snow festival here is relatively small and not exactly a "festival" in the traditional sense. Unlike the other events I'll discuss below, I've never seen any food vendors nor live entertainment featured (this could be have been different in the past or may be different in future years, I'm not sure). Either way, I think it's safe to say it's the smallest and least famous snow festival out of the ones I'm discussing, but still worth including because I live here.
The main displays and sculptures are built in the Aomori Station Park (青森駅前公園), which is basically an open space near the station. Other decorations are also located on the other side of the station, next to a culture and tourism facility called Wa Rasse (ワ・ラッセ), "the House of Nebuta" (Nebuta Festival). The layout and sculptures are new every year, keeping it pretty interesting for local residents. In addition to the designs specifically created for the snow festival, related winter-themed decorations and structures are displayed near Wa Rasse.
Hirosaki Snow Festival / Snow Lantern Festival (弘前雪灯篭祭り)
Hirosaki is famous for it's cherry blossom viewing in the spring, but also offers some nice views during it's snow festival in the winter. It's takes place at the Hirosaki Park (castle grounds) and features snow lanterns, mini kamakura (igloo-like snow huts), large and small snow sculptures, various food vendors, and more. During select nights, illumination events are held and is highly recommended.
Earlier, I briefly mentioned Nebuta Festival in Aomori City. This is just one of several such events in the region; Hirosaki has it's own version called Neputa, and another nearby town has yet another called Tachi-Nebuta. Each are unique in presentation but all depict similar themes and styles characteristic of Aomori Prefecture. In the Hirosaki Snow Festival, much of this imagery can be seen, such as in frames of snow lanterns (above) or walls of displayed artwork (below).
Hirosaki is also known for some historic buildings and Renaissance-style architecture. During my visit to the snow festival, there was a large model of the old Hirosaki City Library. The library (real one, not snow one) was built in 1907 to commemorate the victory in the Japanese-Russo War. Today, it's a museum near the castle you can check out, or see the snow version at the snow festival.
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| Snow sculpture of the former Hirosaki City Library |
The Towada Winter Story is a snow festival held in the town Yasumiya, but the event is usually described by it's geographical location near Lake Towada (hence it's name). This is not to be confused with Towada City (45 km away).
The festival here is said to be one of the bigger ones in the Tohoku region, but I thought it felt a bit compact on my visit (in 2014). Yet there's a lot of interesting things to explore there. It features some neat illuminations, a few big snow sculptures, and a fireworks show. There are also live performances by Tsugaru shamisen players, as well as performances with namahage (生剥). Namahage are demon-like creatures from Japanese folklore (portrayed by men in costumes), who's purpose is to scold lazy or disobedient children. I don't have any pictures of this but I found it to be really interesting so check out the link if you want to learn more about it.
One of the coolest things (if I may use that pun again) to do is stop inside the Kamakura Bar. I mentioned before that kamakura are igloo-like structures. At the Towada festival there are two bars (at least in 2014) which you can enter, sit down, and get a few cocktails in glasses made of ice.
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| Kamakura Bar at Towada Winter Story |
