It's Snow Time! [Part 1]

The Snow Festival was probably the last big trip I took, and I think it will take me a couple posts to, so here's part one!

The Snow Festival, or Yuki Matsuri, is a pretty old festival in Sapporo. By pretty old I mean it's old in a modern sense, starting in 1950 when some high school students decided to be inventive and built snow sculptures in the local park. Now snow sculptures of ridiculous proportions adorn seven districts, or chome, of Sapporo and festivities extend throughout the area.

This is a 1:1 scale snow house

When I arrived I was surprised they let us land at all.

I got to Sapporo, or at the very least, Hokkaido, on Peach, a Low-Cost Carrier flight service. Had I done the smart thing and booked two separate tickets it would have cost me about fourty-dollars to get there. It ended up being a bit more than that, but combined with a cheap hotel the trip didn't cost me all that much. In fact, transportation ended up costing more, partly because I lost my one day pass my first day in Sapporo (probably from falling so much), and partly because where I was staying was about an hour and a half by train away. I was just happy to be in Hokkaido, though, as my flight was nearly canceled and we landed in the middle of a snow typhoon. That's right, a typhoon made out of snow.



Because I had arrived on delay, I was left baffled and confused as to how to get to the town I needed, as the only train system that crosses Hokkaido is JR, and JR Hokkaido has some pretty confusing maps and schedules because of all the snow. I had meant to take a local train, but instead ended up on a limited express train, which annoyed me somewhat as I had already ridden one that day to get to the airport. These trains can cost an extra ten dollars to ride, but I did not have too much of a choice if I wanted to get checked in before eleven. Incidentally, the platform numbers and symbols (triangle, circle) aren't painted on the ground like they are in Kansai and Tohoku, but hung on wire lines above it so that snow does not obscure them.

I was also surprised the trains were running still...

When I did get to town, it seemed like it would be a short walk but that short walk from the station turned into a twenty minute one with the blizzard going. The sidewalks and roads weren't plowed or shoveled, and never were, because they're so used to it with such a long winter season.I found out that not only was I staying in a college town, but at a business hotel, which meant I both fit in on the streets and was an odd sight without a thick down jacket (I ended up layering underneath a wool coat which was fine with all the walking). I was also surprised to see it was the ice hockey capital of Japan, as the sport is not really all that popular, except, apparently, in Hokkaido.

It was this. But at night.

Because I had to get up early to head to Sapporo, I went to bed as soon as I finished up dinner from the nearby 7-11.

The next day I was less lucky about falling on the streets, but that's for another post!
~Zenko~