Do you live in an area where it barely snows, or doesn’t snow at all? Have you always mourned the fact that you’ll never have a snowman to call your own? Well, no longer! Hayakita, Japan has branded itself as the best snowman town in the land, and for the last 25 years, its local tourism association has been selling mail order snowmen to those living in unfortunately tropical climates. Now you too can build your very own snowman army, and it’s all just one bulk order away. How long your snow soldiers will last in the tropical sun however is another matter entirely…

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The Hayakita Yukidaruma-kai (yukidaruma means snowman, kai means company or group) sent a commemorative snowman to encourage Yoshihiko Noda (the prime minister of Japan), who referenced snowmen in his victory speech when he said, “Managing a government is like pushing a snowball up a hill in order to make a snowman. We cannot have any more infighting, as this is like the snowball falling back down the hill and just getting heavier. We must pull together to push the snowball back up the hill for the sake of the public. Together, with all of you, I will work so that the people of Japan will not regret choosing us as the ruling party of Japan.”

This show of gratitude by Hayakita was also a smart publicity move for the remote town. Located in the boonies of Abira County, Hokkaido, Hayakita has done the impossible in creating both interest and income from snow. In this clever ploy, they have greatly increased their revenue in what would normally be their off-season. The town also has its very own snowman post office complete with a snowman mailbox and a snowman roof. Cute!

The workers pack snow into styrofoam snowmen and send them off to folks in warmer climates who placed their orders either online or at their local post office. The snowmen cost 4,000 yen (~$52) for 18-inchers, and 5,000 yen (~$65) for 22-inchers. Seems pretty expensive to me. Especially for something that isn’t going to last very long. With more than 65,000 units shipped since 1986 though, Hayakita seems to be doing pretty well for themselves regardless.

Unfortunately, Abira has been suffering from less than ideal amounts of snowfall lately, which has forced Hayakita Yukidaruma-kai to import snow from the town of Yubari. The organization is distributing “snowman kits” to villagers there who then fill them up with snow and bring them back to the Hayakita post office.

Picture unrelated. Just creepy.

“A snowman year-round, delivered” is the proud motto of Hayakita Yukidaruma-kai. Just imagine the joy and excitement of all the little Japanese children waking up to a real snowman and touching snow for the very first time, their little eyes twinkling, their little Japanese faces all aglow with the joy of this wondrous experience made possible by the nice folks over at Hayakita Yukidaruma-kai. All to have it instantly melt before their eyes. Merry Christmas!

You also may have noticed that these snowmen have no arms and are made up of only two balls of snow instead of three as they are in the West. Why, you ask? Well, in Japanese, snowmen are called yukidaruma. The name is a combination of yuki (snow), and daruma which is the Japanese name for an ancient Buddhist monk. Nowadays, many Japanese buy little red darumas as good luck charms. These dolls are purchased at the end of the year to make a wish. People fill one eye in when they get it, and they fill in the other eye a year later if their wish comes true.

The resemblance between these dolls and Japanese snowmen is pretty self-explanatory, and we can safely assume that the origins of the Japanese snowman are rooted in Buddhism.

But why are daruma dolls armless in the first place? Another good question. It is said that Bodhidharma meditated before a wall for so long (nine years!) that his arms and legs atrophied and fell off, so the doll is modeled accordingly. Daruma dolls are hollow with a round shape and are weighted at the bottom in such a way that they will always return to an upright position when toppled. In Japanese this is referred to as an okiagari. Oki means “to get up” and agari means “to rise.” This characteristic of the daruma doll has come to symbolize success, overcoming adversity, and recovering from misfortune.

Darumas are often illustrated alongside the phrase Nanakorobi Yaoki, which translates to “seven times down, eight times up.” Pretty motivational, I think. Daruma-dude, you’re an okay guy.

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