The Sapporo Snow Festival, which colors Sapporo in winter, has begun, with snow and ice sculptures of various sizes entertaining tourists.
On the morning of the 4th, the opening ceremony of the Sapporo Snow Festival was held in front of a large snow sculpture modeled after the former Sapporo Station building, the Old Sapporo Station, and the festival was declared open with much fanfare.
At the main venue, Odori Park in Sapporo's Chuo Ward, five large snow statues over 10 meters in height are on display, including one themed around Nippon Ham's new baseball stadium and coach Shinjo, who opened last year. , and those modeled after characters from Golden Kamuy, a popular manga set in Hokkaido during the Meiji era.
This year, it will be held for the first time in four years on a scale before the coronavirus pandemic, and around 200 snow and ice sculptures of all sizes are lined up at the three venues, including snow sculptures made by citizens.
A large number of families and foreign tourists have been visiting since the first day, the 4th. One of them, a woman in her 40s who came from Tokyo with her family, said, ``We were looking forward to this day. It's big and impressive.'' I was there.
In addition, a man in his 50s visiting from Osaka said, ``My wife, who passed away a year ago, wanted to come, so I came on a memorial trip for her.I'm going to take my time to see it.''
The "Sapporo Snow Festival" will be held for eight days until the 11th of this month.