Japan is known to for their bizarre and over-the-top festivals. A few that come to mind are the 裸祭り (はだかまつり, Naked Festival), the かなまら祭り (かなまらまつり, Penis Festival), and the 御柱 (おんばしら, festival with the extreme log riding).

Not all of their festivals are conceptually odd.

It may surprise some of you that not all Japanese activities are way out there. Take for example, the さっぽろ雪祭り (さっぽろゆきまつり, Sapporo Snow Festival). The name itself sounds innocent enough, right? Innocent enough to be able to take the family or date to, at least.

What is the Snow Festival?

The Sapporo Snow Festival is held annually every February for a week in the Hokkaido city that brings you the oldest Japanese brand of premium beers, *drum roll* Sapporo.

Sapporo hanging out in Hokkaido. Japan’s fourth largest city.

If you have read my YukiGassen article, then you may have come to the conclusion that the Hokkaido area receives a hefty amount of snow every winter. You, sir and/or madam, are correct. With all the snow, art such as these are born.

Can you guess who this is?

Why settle for a commoner’s igloo when you can have a palace?

Check out the level of detail!

Before we dive into the details, let’s go through a brief history lesson of the festival.

When and how did it originate?

There must be something about Japanese high school students being very proactive. Similar to how YukiGassen started, the origins of the Sapporo Snow Festival began at Sapporo’s Odori Park, where in 1950, several high school students built snow statues.

Five years later, the festival’s first massive snow structure was built (by none other than the Japanese Self Defense Force). JSDF is Japan’s national military, for those who are unaware.

The festival began to see it’s international popularity skyrocket when the Winter Olympics came to town in 1972. Responding to the international recognition of the event, in 1974, the International Snow Sculpture Contest was born. Many teams of many nationalities joined the yearly festivities. Sapporo’s sister cities, Portland (OR, USA), Munich (Germany), Shenyang (China), Novosibirsk (Russia), and Daejeon (South Korea), are consistent participants of the contest.

63rd Annual Sapporo Snow Festival Poster

This year makes the Sapporo’s 63rd Snow Festival. And guess what? It’s happening this week!

Sapporo Snow Festival: Would you like to know more?

On average for the last five years, the event brings in over two million visitors. The last two years, numbers were nearing two-and-a-half million. This is quite an achievement, if you compare the number against Sapporo’s population of 1.9 million. That’s a paltry ~125% of the city’s population.

This year, 228 snow sculptures are expected to be on display. You may be asking yourself, “Is there even enough snow to go around? It can’t snow THAT much in one area out in boondocks Hokkaido.” Dear reader, thank you for asking the relevant questions.

Indeed, there is usually not enough snow in the event area to supply sculptures the needed snow. So what is the solution? Have the JSDF truck in the snow from outside the city.

Japanese Self Defense Force: Professional snow sculptures?

While it may seem to be not a good use of military resources, the JSDF does consider it a training exercise. So it’s a win-win for civilians and the military. Just how much snow is hauled into the city annually? Numbers for this year are estimated to be 6,500 five-ton truck loads. In other words, 32,500 metric tons of snow (29,500 tons, for our North American friends).

Personally, I would hire dekotoras to haul in the snow. Do it in style, am I right?

Dressed for the festivities!

The process of building a massive snow sculpture takes months of planning. To build the framework, haul the snow, and do the sculpting is usually done a month leading to the event. Click on the image below to see an animated timeline of the construction of one of these sculptures.

Click on Chopper to see an animated timeline of the construction of this sculpture.

This year, sixteen international teams are competing in the international snow sculpture event. The teams and their sculpture ideas are listed below.

India	Indonesia
Singapore	Sweden
Thailand	Chile
Daejeon (South Korea; Sister City)	New Zealand
Novosibirsk (Russia; Sister City)	Hawaii (USA)
Portland (Oregon, USA; Sister City)	Malaysia
Finland	Hong Kong
Lithuania

Additional details about each concept can be found on Sapporo’s Snow Festival event website.

Unlike the non-competition massive sculptures, the international teams only have four days to complete their creations. It’s great to see a lot of hot climate nations participating the event, especially Hawaii. Didn’t expect to see them on the list, but I guess Hawaiians can do sand sculptures, right?

Who are you all rooting for? There are a lot of interesting sculpture concepts, but I’ll be rooting for Tofugu’s home city, Portland. I have to say, Sweden’s concept got a chuckle out of me. It reminds me of the Trojan Horse, but in moose form. Better watch out Sapporo!