Yuki Matsuri Photos

Hey everyone,

Renée put together a web page of photos for the Sapporo snow festival (not to be confused with the Hokkaido photos previously mentioned). The link is here. This festival, in the heart of downtown, certainly had the most impressive sculptures. In addition to statues by individual artists, there were several large works (the Sphinx, Big Ben, and a Japanese castle).

You can read more about this particular festival on their own (English!) web site.

Sapporo Snow Festival

Rounding out our trip to Hokkaido earlier this month, we attended the 59th Sapporo Yuki Matsuri or Snow Festival. Actually, this awesome festival was inspiration for our long weekend trip.

Beginning in 1950 with six small statues, this festival has snowballed (ha!) into something of epic proportions. Each winter, numerous ice and snow sculptures now line the streets around Odori Park, the grounds at Sato-Land, and the main street in Susukino.

We only had a chance to explore Odori Park, but since that is the location for the largest, most detailed and most impressive sculptures, we were not too disappointed. (Although, there was a snow maze in Sato-Land that Chris and I had really hoped to see. Next time, I guess.)

The Odori Park area was made up of 12 square blocks with a huge sculpture or statue per block.
Since we were visiting the large festival area as part of a tour, we had limited time and had to hurry around a bit. I learned that icy ground and hurrying do not combine well. And to think... I laughed at the "suckers" on our tour bus who actually bought snow-spikes from the guides to snap on to the soles of their shoes. Whoops!

As the afternoon turned to dusk, things lit up. Christmas lights were in all of the nearby trees. Several of the ice based sculptures were lit in bright colors and the snow based sculptures were mostly lit in white light to show off the attention to detail. Better still, were the few sculptures like "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" that were part of the "Pageant of Light and Sound." We didn't actually stay to see this, but the idea was that moving lights and music would bring the sculptures to life to tell a story. Similarly, the Nissin Cup O' Noodles sponsored "Freedom" sculpture featured a continuous DVD of animated shorts projected on an incorporated flat wall.

To sum up, even with the slipping and falling, the Sapporo Snow Festival lived up to my expectations. Considering how high they were, that's an impressive feat!

I will make a photo page of this festival soon. Stay tuned.

The Full Monty

While we were in Sounkyo in Hokkaido, I finally went to an onsen. The hot water was a welcome contrast to the snow and ice at the Frozen Waterfall festival. And, it was a typically Japanese cultural experience that I am very glad to have had!

But, I definitely wasn't sure about the whole thing going into it. Reconciling being naked in front of strangers and being able to enjoy the relaxing/calming effect of the water seemed impossible.

The basic rules of onsens are as follows: most baths are separated by gender, you cannot wear anything into the bath, you must shower thoroughly and rinse before entering the bath and you cannot let soap, shampoo, or your towel touch the bath water. When the onsen is in a hotel or spa, most bathers go to the changing rooms wearing only the provided yukata.

I paced around the changing room for a very long time - reading and re-reading the onsen etiquette rules. In other words, I was stalling big time! Finally, I entered the bathing room where maybe two dozen Japanese women were already enjoying the showers and the hot springs.

The room was warm, steamy and actually quite pleasant. The showers were were accompanied by small stools that you could sit on while you scrubbed. There were also buckets that you could fill with water for rinsing. As was the case here, it is common for shampoo and body soap to be provided. After the showers, it was finally time to enter the hot spring itself. It was really relaxing and the temperature was just right. Goldilocks would have approved!

The best part -- my fears were completely unfounded. No one was being creepy. No one was staring at anyone else. No one left the onsen because I had arrived. Being a foreigner in an onsen wasn't the curiosity I had heard it might be. So, to any of you future Japan travelers - I highly recommend trying out an onsen. You'll be glad you did.

Frozen Waterfalls

For our trip to Hokkaido, we booked a package deal through a travel agency. This was an adventure since we were the only two non-Japanese on the 45 person tour. On the long drives between the sights all weekend, we learned a lot of interesting information from our tour guides, but it was exhausting to hear them continually talking while trying to process what we heard. I think I've figured out why toddlers sleep so much.

The first winter festival we attended in Hokkaido was the Sounkyo Frozen Waterfall Festival. (aka Hyobaku Ice Festival) Sounkyo is a small city in a formerly volcanic mountainous area in central Hokkaido famous for its river gorge, waterfalls, and hot springs (onsens). It is within the boundaries of Daisetsuzan National Park and is absolutely beautiful. Being somewhat difficult to get to, it still feels like "real" wilderness.

The festival itself was a freezing winter fantasy land with giant ice castles, ice pillars, dozens of corporate sponsored igloos, ice sculptures, and of course, frozen waterfalls lit up with colored lights. The festival was located along the Ishikari River, which was not frozen and provided many scenic views.

One highlight was the tube sledding course that was carved into the flatlands along the side of the river. We rented an inner tube and I went sledding down the hills several times. It was so much fun! Since it was snowing while we were there, the sledding was even better... but maybe a little bit colder too.

Winter Festivals Teaser

Two weekends ago we went to Hokkaido to see three winter festivals. It was so much fun! Here is a short video of me enjoying sledding at the festival in Sounkyo, in the center of Hokkaido. The area is famous for beautiful gorges, cliffs and onsens.