After seeing the city from above at Mt. Moiwa, we headed back to the Sapporo Snow Festival via the cute city tram. Our first stop was the Susukino site of the festival, where they closed up part of the main street and turned it into an ‘Ice World’. This area is ideal to see at night, because Susukino is actually the entertainment district of Sapporo and all the ice sculptures have illuminations. Be sure to stop by an ice bar as well!
We then walked over to Odori Park to see the rest of the sculptures we missed the day before. Once there we saw a bit of a snow boarding competition, ate soo much delicious food again, took so many photos of the snow sculptures and ended the day back at Susukino with a warm bowl of ramen. Funny story about the ramen though.. we found the sister location to our favorite ramen place in Okinawa (that is originally from Hokkaido), which is literally 5 minutes from our house; so of course we had to take our friends there!
We also visited the Tsudome site, but I’ll be sharing that in Part 2 because I thought that 100 photos in one post was probably more than enough, lol! Also, if you’re here because you’re thinking about attending the festival, I shared 10 Tips For Visiting The Sapporo Snow Festival!
Off to Odori Park!
^^ the difference between the day before the festival started and the first day was pretty insane ^^
^^ You best believe I got a corn on the cob!! ^^
^^ this guy made me smile so much ^^
Every year at the Sapporo Snow Festival there are a few life size sculptures that are just stunning!! The HBC Square always hosts a large sculpture to deepen international friendship and cultural exchange. In 2017 they displayed the Arc de Triomphe which is located at the Place Charles de Gaulle in Paris. The best part? It light up with the colors of the french flag at night!! Another favorite was the Central Grand Hall of the Kofukuji Temple in Nara created by the Japanese Self Defense Force!! It took 3,800 people and a whole month to finish that sculpture. Also, I have to mention the amazing Star Wars sculpture that celebrated the 40th anniversary of the release of the first movie!! (Scroll down to see them all)
^^ There were so many ‘Pen Pineapple Apple Pen’ sculptures this year!! HAHA! ^^
^^ Of course we had to take a selfie with Trump!! ^^
Okay so this was pretty crazy!! We reached this amazing Star Wars sculpture right as a performance was starting and all of us immediately recognize the drumming… It was an Eisa (Okinawa folk dance) performance put together by the Okinawan Tourism Board! We were in shock to find a piece of Okinawa in Snowy Sapporo and couldn’t help but feel bad for those people in their not-so-warm clothes. Right next to the sculpture there was also a little colorful booth with information about Okinawa!
^^ Representatives from different countries working on their sculptures LIVE ^^
^^ Blurry phone photo.. but I had to recreate this adorable sculpture!! ^^
^^ I shrieked when I spotted this cat bus from Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘My Neighbor Totoro’!! ^^
As we decided to leave I spotted this van selling yakiimo (baked sweet potatoes) and decided to get one… of course everyone kept telling me I was going to get sick or something because it looked super sketchy! HA! It was delicious!
Here’s a map of places I pinned in the area. Some restaurants and even our hotel, lol!
More Sapporo posts: Former Government Building, Sapporo Beer Museum, Sapporo TV Tower + Odori Park, Hokkaido Shrine, Mt. Moiwa Ropeway, Sapporo Snow Festival: Part 2, 10 Tips for visiting Japan’s Sapporo Snow Festival