I heart the Sapporo Snow Festival -- true or false?

September 20, 2007 8:32 PM

What's the scoop on The Sapporo Snow Festival?

I love snow. I live in Los Angeles. So when I heard about Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, I about flipped out. Before I drop a big chunk of change on a plane ticket, I'd like to get feedback from people who've actually been there. Hundreds of giant ice sculptures plus late night revelry fueled by Japanese beer sounds incredible...but I'm worried that I'm planning to travel halfway across the world for something that will be similar to this.

My world-traveling (or even better, Sapporo-native) metabuddies, I ask you: is this festival worth the trip?

posted by roger ackroyd to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

According to the locals: stay home and look at things via the internet. It's all corporate-sponsored at this point, and the city's population more than doubles when the snow festival rolls around.

I'd say to look for an ice sculpture festival in the US that isn't commodified into just corporate mascots, but even the Plymouth Ice Festival in Michigan has hit that point, with many of the sculptures being straight-up company logos rendered in ice. Yes, there are some works of actual artistic merit (and when I went last year there was actually a big team from Japan doing a huge sculpture of their own), but it's kind of depressing on the whole.
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:39 PM on September 20, 2007

D'oh.
posted by roger ackroyd at 8:40 PM on September 20, 2007

Where as the butter sculptures in Iowa are of the Last Supper and tigers. So there.
posted by Homeskillet Freshy Fresh at 9:01 PM on September 20, 2007

Perhaps you should try the Ice Alaska Championship and The Breckenridge Championship first
posted by growabrain at 9:35 PM on September 20, 2007

I enjoyed the snow festival. But I already live in Japan, so it was not that long a trip up to Hokkaido. It was nice, but hardly the "festival" you might imagine. There weren't too many people dancing in the street or anything like that. Of course, the main ice sculptures are 30 or 40 feet tall and totally cool. And the Sapporo Brewery tour is really cool. And the crab in Sapporo is really great, better than LA I think. So it's enjoyable, but I can't help thinking that you would be disappointed if you flew across the world just to see it. You'd have to be REALLY into ice sculpture to feel like you got your money's worth I think. If you're just interested in the other cool stuff that Hokkaido has to offer, you can go any other time of the year for half the price, and have it all to yourself.
posted by donkeymon at 4:55 AM on September 21, 2007

Seems like a bit of a ripoff of the Carnival de Québec.
posted by Reggie Digest at 5:43 AM on September 21, 2007

I am living in Muroran, Hokkaido right now (1.5 hours south of Sapporo by car) and went to the Snow Festival this year. I'd say that DoctorFedora's comment about the population increase is correct but I don't think that the corporate sponsorship of the sculptures makes them any less amazing. They are absolutely huge and there are tons of them. example

The nightlife is also quite fun. They close down an entire street in Susukino (the bar/club filled main drag) and line it with igloos where you can get a wild assortment of warm and cold alcoholic beverages.

If you are planning to do a trip to Sapporo for the Snow Festival, I would suggest you see some other areas of Hokkaido. Niseko Ski Resort has snow that, honestly, rivals that of the Rockies. However, Niseko is a little overrun with Australians so you might want to head to the quieter but slightly more expensive Rusutsu Resort. Both are within a couple hours from Sapporo by train. The nice part about skiing in Japan is that pretty much every resort and resort village has at least two natural hot springs (onsen) where you can relax and thaw out after a day of snow sculpture enjoyment or skiing.

Noboribetsu is home to the famous sulfuric basin known as Hell Valley and boasts some of the best naturally heated baths in Japan. It's less than an hour by train from Sapporo (but only 30 minutes from me by car which has resulted in many trips and quite a fondness for the place.)

Also, Abashiri , on the east coast of Hokkaido, is home to a whole ton of drift ice that you can enjoy a boat ride through. Never been but I'm told it's amazing. It is a bit of a ways from Sapporo though.

There is a whole lot to do in Hokkaido so I would say, if you are just coming to do the Snow Festival and head back to L.A. - forget it. However, if you are planning to spend a couple of days around the area, you should absolutely make the trek. Hokkaido is really a truly beautiful place, both in the summer and the winter, with tons to do and see.

Another motivating factor: Sapporo has a ton of delicious beer. But you knew that.
posted by RobertFrost at 4:43 AM on September 25, 2007