Held date: Held in the first week of February, the coldest and snowiest month every year, and lasts for 5 days until Sunday.
Origin of the festival: As we all know, the people of Hokkaido live in a world covered with ice and snow for nearly half a year. The annual snowfall there is more than four meters. Once the long winter enters, people are like being stung by insects. They stay in their rooms all day long and think more about outdoor activities. The Sapporo City Government understands everyone's mood, tries to satisfy the people's long-cherished wishes, transform the monotonous winter life, and decides to work hard to open up tourism in the northern city. Before the Ice and Snow Festival, there were "Snow Stations" (horse riding stations attended by tens of thousands of people, competing for each other's snow castles), "Ice Carnival" and "School Snow Statue Exhibition" in Hokkaido. On this basis, It was decided that in early February, when it is the coldest and snowiest month, the Sapporo Snow Festival Executive Committee will be formed by relevant departments in Sapporo City. This organization will host the Sapporo Ice and Snow Festival, calling on citizens, teachers, and students to go out of their rooms and carve snowmen by themselves. Snow objects and images enrich the lives of citizens with their own wisdom and labor. The first Sapporo Ice and Snow Festival in 1950 was an instant success, achieving unexpected results and winning the welcome and support of the masses. From then on, it was decided to hold an ice and snow festival every year.
Related customs and activities:
During the Snow Festival, the huge snow and ice sculptures on display in Odori Park, Makomanai Park, and Susukino in Sapporo City are very impressive. Snow sculptures of various sizes stand at three venues in Sapporo, and 2 million people, including foreign tourists, come to watch them every year.
The Ice and Snow Festival is staged in three places in Sapporo: Odori Exhibition Area, Susukino Exhibition Area and Satoranto Park Exhibition Area. International snow elephant competitions and cultural exhibitions will also be held during the festival. Even famous singers, actors, and folk artists from all over Japan gathered in Sapporo to perform on the snow stage, and the live broadcast was broadcast nationwide on television and radio. Giving a performance is a unique performance.
The Sapporo Snow Festival is also a festival for ordinary citizens. Every year, a large snow slide is sculpted for children in Makomanai Square, shaping various mythological stories, various characters and rare animals. , steam locomotives and sleigh carriages, etc.