Sapporo Snow Festival 2010

Most people have heard of Sapporo. It is Japan's 5th biggest city, with just under 2 million people living there. Sapporo is the capital of Japan's Hokkaido Prefecture. Most people are familiar with Sapporo as the home of the 1972 Winter Olympics or as the home of the Sapporo Brewery. We learned that Sapporo was also famous for their Snow Festival, one of Japan's largest festivals. In fact, approximately 2 million people visit the Snow Festival each year. The Snow Festival began in 1950, when 6 high school students built 6 snow statues in Odori Park.

The city is distinctly different from Misawa. The roads are very wide and the population seemed young and vibrant. It was also very cold. Misawa is not as cold as most people think. In Misawa, the temp rarely drops below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a lot warmer than Omaha. But Sapporo was much colder than Misawa! The first night we were there the temperature was 12 degrees Fahrenheit with a brisk wind.

Ok, on with the pictures! We took a lot of photos, so we will have to break it up into multiple posts again. Enjoy!

Bundle up, it's cold!

Shirokuma Time Square reminded me of New York's Time Square

One of the few places you don't have to walk on snow or ice. This is one of the many indoor malls hidden beneath the streets.

I told you it was cold. This was a designated smoking area made entirely of large ice blocks. This had me chuckling for some reason.

In the background, you can see the Sapporo TV Tower (kind of looks like a miniature Eiffel Tower)

Odori Park

A tribute to the zoo (pics from there later). This massive scene was carved out of snow.

Snow Temple

For those of you familiar with Hideki Matsui. He is a Japanese baseball player who has played for the Yankees in recent years. His nickname is Godzilla. They carved Matsui's face inside of a Godzilla head.

They built a giant snowboard jump in the middle of Odori Park. Cool!