差ポロのユキマツリ Winter Festival in Sapporo city.

 

    Sapporo Yuki Matsuri             

 

Sapporo Ice World                                                                          Fish sculpture

                                                                           Ainu display

Sapporo City, is the home of Japan's famous winter festival, the Sapporo Snow Festival or Japanese, Yuki Matsuri.

Every year ice sculptures from around the world converge on this city of 2 million inhabitants to showcase their ice-scalping talents.

This year 2024 was special because for 2 years the city of Sapporo was not able to hold the event. Due to COVID-19 pandemic.

 Finally this year, the city opened its doors once again to have the biggest winter events.

      Bird                                         End of Ice World

            Eagle

This year 2024 marks 74 years of the Sapporo snow festival. It started in 1950 with a few high school students building a snow sculpture at the Sapporo famous Odori Park. From then on the event got bigger and bigger attracting many visitors from within Japan and abroad.

This year 2024, the event is held in 3 locations;

1. Suzukino
2. Odaori Park
3. Sapporo Dome Area.

This year's term is ' Finding Delight and Interacting With Ice'.

1. Suzukino

 

The once puzzling main, street of Suzukino is where they cornered off allowing two blocks of the main street to be taken up by the Ice Word sculptures.

This year there were approximately 60 sculptures on display  including the ice sculpture with a trapped fish, ice sculptures from the contest, large-scale Ainu ice sculptures that are powerful and magnificent, and sculptures depicting characters from each broadcasting company were on display

                              Suzukino Ice World Map

2. Odari Park

Odari Park the original place where the Sapporo snow festival started has many snow sculptures. It also features some of the biggest snow sculptures for this event.

This year the sculptures feature many of Japan's famous people, anime characters and movies, singing groups, major sponsors, and Hokkaido Indigenous People, the Ainu.

This year the largest sculptures on display in Odari Park are Upopoi National Ainu Museum, Neuschwanstein Castle, Old Sapporo Station, and Hokkaido Ballpark F Village.

 

         

                        Golden Kamuwi Movie

There are also snow sculptures from various countries including, Indonesia, Thailand, Lithuania, and Mongolia.

This year Odri Park snow festival included the curling sport for citizens to try. The curling area is located next to the Sapporo Clock Tower.

Furthermore, if you are walking around and find yourself hungry. You can try out the many delicious Japanese stall foods. They are freshly cooked and are tenderly so good.

HBC Broadcasting

                                     Performance stage 

                                 Citizen sculpture

F Village.

Pickatsu

3. Tsudome Site 

The Tsudome site is located in the famous Sapporo Dome area. This is Sapporo's biggest dome and they can host a lot of sports events there. It is located in the Toyahria Word area.

This site is mostly composed of giant ice-skying slides. It is enjoyed by children and their parents. There are slides, snow rafts, and other attractions. The indoor space offers gourmet booths, rest areas, and other attractions for children to play in. 

by Joshua.