Meanwhile in Japan... the Sapporo Snow Festival is beyond cool (PHOTOS)
While our local mountains’ snow levels are being washed away by a consistent stream of rain and warmer-than-normal temperatures, there is no shortage of the white stuff this week in Sapporo, Japan as the city begins its annual celebration of snow – and the pictures are sure a sight for sore eyes.
This time every year, the Sapporo Snow Festival draws millions of people to Sapporo to see hundreds of intricately detailed snow sculptures and to participate in snow-themed cultural festivities.
The festival features an International Snow Sculpting Contest with teams from 12 countries around the world – unfortunately, there is no team from Canada this year – and tobogganing, live music, food and of course, the viewing of over 200 snow sculptures.
6,500 five-tonne trucks of snow is transported to the three festival sites throughout the month of January from locations in and around Sapporo. Winters in the city are generally very cold and snowy, with annual snowfall accumulations of roughly 19 feet.
The first Sapporo Snow Festival was held in 1950 and became internationally-known in 1972 when Sapporo hosted the Winter Olympic Games. In 2014, 2.4 million people attended the festival.
Pictures of the event are streaming in through social media, and the sights are amazing. The biggest attraction this year is “Snow Star Wars”, approved by George Lucas’ Lucasfilm Ltd.
Maybe when they’re done with all that snow, they’ll ship some over to us!
Japanese army builds enormous Star Wars sculpture for snow festival:http://t.co/ky0fzYbWU7#StarWars #Japan pic.twitter.com/deIXBhG2jY
— Demilked (@demilked) February 6, 2015
Impressive. Most impressive. #StarWars snow sculpture at Japan's annual Sapporo Snow Fest: http://t.co/LjsXtlc26W pic.twitter.com/UFYjCX5JDg
— ThinkGeek (@thinkgeek) February 6, 2015
Sapporo Snow Festival / Evangelion, now in Japan 🙂 via @wtr_seana http://t.co/WBQlsFDgqI
— Catsuka (@catsuka) February 5, 2015
Meanwhile, in Sapporo …
(building a #StarWars snow sculpture for the upcoming snow festival) pic.twitter.com/oQyGJ0sjW6
— J-LIST – Your friend in Japan! (@jlist) February 2, 2015
https://twitter.com/_earth_views/status/561883144278654977
The Sapporo Snow Festival is taking over Japan this weekend: http://t.co/F8Idr2B6vD pic.twitter.com/O4eacBYakv
— Condé Nast Traveler (@CNTraveler) February 6, 2015
Manila Cathedral in Japan? Actually, just an ice replica at Sapporo Snow Festival I Photo by DOT Chief @Jimenez_Mon pic.twitter.com/Qj3rFQUo0E
— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) February 6, 2015
Holy Flurking Schnit! #SapporoSnowFestival http://t.co/qHtcG7lb2w pic.twitter.com/6oVcSiYR24
— Greg Chanukah Name (@ochimusha108) February 6, 2015
The Sapporo Snow Festival starts today in Hokkaido: http://t.co/XBQhOwmwWd #Japan pic.twitter.com/I7UGEelIvw
— zoomingjapan (@zoomingjapan) February 5, 2015
Today is the beginning of the world-famous #SapporoSnowFestival. Here is a picture of a Parthenon made of snow! pic.twitter.com/Qwfh1GJO9J
— WAS Classics (@WAS_Classics) February 5, 2015
The famous Sapporo Snow Festival started today until February 11, 2015!
For more details⇒http://t.co/uz6rakdxVa pic.twitter.com/wx3CpDakY0— All Nippon Airways (@FlyANA_official) February 5, 2015
The 2015 Sapporo Snow Festival will start on Feb 5 till 11:http://t.co/bfTXDWKHS1 (picture from another year) pic.twitter.com/W8k7smYnnE
— japan-guide.com (@japanguidecom) February 3, 2015
https://twitter.com/miki113t/status/562267000378908672
https://twitter.com/fumika_tamura/status/562202881328033793
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Featured Image: Ikururo via Flickr