06 Apr Japan: 67th Sapporo Snow Festival (Day 3)

One of the main objective of this Japan trip was to check out the snow festival at Odori park at least once in our lives. So there’s no way we were going to give it a miss no matter how tough the weather gets. The only thing we could do was gear up for the worst. 

In total, there were 3 sites for the festival namely, Odori (main) site, Tsudome site and Susukino (ice sculpture) site. We visited the Odori & Susukino sites which surprisingly took up our whole day. So my advice to visitors will be to spare a day for the snow festival alone. You’ll find yourself walking really slowly in the snow, that itself is already so time consuming and draining physically because you’re trying so hard not to fall. No joke.

The reknowned Panasonic Tv tower observatory deck at the main site, Odori. Odori stretches from chrome 1 – 12.

‘Tong’… that’s what friends call me. Short form for squid in malay language. And the squid ice sculpture is a sign for me to brave the storm. Like an ancestor looking out for me. O’ my king!

In all honesty, not everything about snow is lovely. The melting ones especially those on the roads are dirty as mud-like. That part of snow, is not impressive and it gets really slippery too. 

The girls having a photoshoot in the blizzard that comes on and off. We were excited at the storm yet at the same time fearful of the cold. The worst was when you have your spectacles yet it doesn’t prevent snow from hitting into your eyeballs. I was pretty much busy wiping my camera lens and my glasses duh. 

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It was awful slippery at the snow festival. I’ve lost count at how many times I see people slipping and falling all over (including my friends). I was a tad luckier cause I didn’t fall off flat on my butt or my face. Instead, I did a really cool stunt. Kneeled on 1 knee and a palm on the floor. I was totally doing the epic terminator pose. My main concern was really my camera. If anything happens, I’ll save my camera first.

Oh fuck! Look who I saw? Foul-mouth bear, Ted.

Another main highlight of the festival. Long time no see Dragon ball. The comparison of the man and the sculpture… some crazy workmanship huh.

Susukino site, unfortunately felt like a letdown. Not because the works were bad. In fact alot of the sculptures have some meticulous craft going on but the location itself was huh? Behind every sculpture, lies all the distracting shops with signages. The lights penetrated the ice and comes out as a glare so it wasn’t pleasing to look longer at the work. The messy background really drew away the focus. We screen through really briefly.

One of the most interesting piece would be the following frozen fish palace. Kinda gross if you look closely. 

Crabs for dinner. A restaurant we found along Susukino site that many locals patronised. We were kinda taken aback when people started smoking in the small restaurant. Like omg we could do that? And the party starts. The feeling of seafood, sake and cigarette in one place altogether is fatal. Fatal attraction. 

Japan and its’ never ending line of fanciful signages made the city vibrant and lively. ♡

To round off the post, I must say it was a really trying day for us. Because we were trying to look at the snow carvings with the heavy snow hitting in our eyes. Trying to concentrate on the ground so we don’t fall and then our feet aches. Trying to take pictures with our camera or phones but our fingers were too cold and stiff. At the end of the day, we were knocked out cold and flat literally. Despite all the above mentioned, it was a really good experience and I genuinely enjoyed myself looking at the sculptures, taking strolls, the food and everything else.

Till then!