Sapporo Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival)

This past week I went to Hokkaido, the northern most island of Japan for the famous Snow Festival. I traveled with 7 other Jets from Ibaraki. We left Tuesday from Oarai port for an 18 hour ferry ride to Hokkaido. Some AETs from Mito church were on the same ferry, so it was nice hanging out with them too. It was my first time on a ship this big and for this long of a trip. The ferry was pretty big with a restaurant, movie theaters, bath, lounges and arcade. I didn't think I would get sea sick, but I did feel a little nauseous on the way there. Slept in an economy room on futons on the floor, but slept surprisingly well. Ate breakfast and lunch on the ferry- breakfast was an interesting mix of Japanese and American food and lunch was curry rice. Arrived at Tomakomai port in Hokkaido around 1:30pm and took a bus to Sapporo.

Met up with another Australian Jet from Osaka who joined our group. We checked into the International Youth Hostel, which turned out to be more like a hotel! Very clean, nice rooms and conveniently located to the subway and Snow Festival venues. My Japan book had recommended this hostel and it did not disappoint! The first night we went to find a ramen restaurant that one of my teachers had recommended. Sapporo is famous for their miso ramen and my teacher said this place was better than the shops in the well known ramen alley. It took awhile to find because of poor directions from the store clerk, but it was worth the wait! It was in a department store on the fourth floor with all this stationery, back in a little corner. We made it just before they closed and the cooks were so nice. The head cook gave us all skimono and chocolates on the house.

After dinner we went to check out the Odori venue with all the snow sculptures. Saw the famous Sapporo TV Tower all lit up and walked down the endless blocks of snow sculptures. They were really neat and it started with massive murals made out of snow- animals, Disney, landmarks and anime. Some of the snow sculptures had stages in front with performers, many of them younger than 10 years old.
Towards the end their were smaller sculptures made by teams from around the world. I was really impressed with the amount of detail that went into each piece and wondered how long it took to make!




On Wednesday we woke up early to eat a Japanese style breakfast at the hostel before starting our day. Headed out to see the other two festival venues. Went to see the ice sculptures first. Lots of sculptures of all different things ranging from animals, anime stars, mythical creatures and food. This was the last day of the festival, so some had started to melt a little. I think the most interesting one that I saw was this block of ice with real fish and crabs frozen into it.


As we were looking at the ice sculptures I just happened to look up and see someone I recognized from Mito Church! His name was Charles and he was traveling alone for the Snow Festival. We talked for a little and then parted ways. He ended up joining us for a day trip to Otaru the following day. After looking at the ice sculptures we headed to the final venue. At the last venue there were a lot of slides, sled rides and family friendly activities. Inside the dome there was a huge sitting area and outside the back of the dome there were lots of food vendors. The boys decided to wait in the 45 min. line to ride down the slides, but the girls decided to head for the food! We sampled some sweet potato tempura and niku maki onigiri.

Next stop was the Sapporo Brewery with museum and beer garden. The surrounding area was really beautiful and there was a nice courtyard in between the brewery and beer garden. We toured the museum and sampled some famous Sapporo Beer. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but felt inclined to have some since we were at the brewery. For dinner we ate at the beer garden and had jingus khan which is lamb in sauce. You cook it over a hot pot at the table and it was delicious. Left dinner smelling like dinner the rest of the night! Walked around the mall next door and ended the night with some karaoke.



Friday the girls and guys split up- the girls went to Otaru and the boys went snowboarding. My friend Charles met up with us at the train station to go to Otaru. Otaru is nicknamed The Venice of Japan because of its canal and glass blowing shops. I loved the train ride, looking at snow covered mountains out one side and the ocean on the other. There was a light snow when we arrived in Otaru, but not unbearably cold. We walked along the main streets of the town and passed a lot of cute little shops. Passed glass blowing studios, chocolate shops, cafes, ramen, sushi and other little souvenir shops. Ate miso ramen for lunch and walked to the canal to see the night festival. The canal was really beautiful with little candle lit lanterns floating in the water and the walkway was lined with snow sculptures with flickering candlelight inside. Unfortunately my camera battery died after shooting a few pics of the canal. I had charged my battery, but the cold won that day. Good thing my friends took lots of pics and posted on facebook. Enjoyed exploring Otaru, but nothing compares to the real Venice!



Saturday was our last day in Sapporo. The day included massages, city views from the observatory of JR Tower, visit to Salmon Museum and kaiten zushi. Boarded the ferry at 11pm that night and left Tomakomai port in Hokkaido at 1:30am to head back to Ibaraki. We were all really tired and I ended up sleeping a good 13 hours on the ferry! I didn't feel sea sick since I slept for most of the trip! Going back we slept in casual rooms and each had our own bed, which was really nice. The ferry back was smaller than the one going and did not have a restaurant or set meals. We found this out beforehand and had come prepared with food from the conbini. It did however have a small sauna in the bath area! Arrived home around 9:45pm Sunday and was swaying around my apartment for the rest of the night. Hokkaido did not disappoint and I'm glad I had the opportunity to see the Snow Festival! I would like to go back during the summer and see some of the national parks sometime..another trip for another time.