The world-famous Sapporo Snow Festival has opened in the northern Japan city, where heavy falls of snow have ensured that sculptors taking part in the annual competition have plenty of raw material to work with.
The six-day extravaganza of snow and ice began on Sunday with an opening ceremony before a huge sculpture of the Taj Mahal in the centre of Odori Park, which runs through the centre of the largest city on the most northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
The festival is marking its 63rd anniversary this year, with the International Snow Statue Contest staged for the 39th straight year and attracting teams from 16 countries and cities overseas. The three-strong teams are from India, Indonesia, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Chile, New Zealand, Malaysia, Finland, Hong Kong and Lithuania, as well as the US state of Hawaii and the cities of Daejeon in South Korea, Novosibirsk in Russia and Portland in the US, all of which have sister-city ties with Sapporo.
The entry from Chile, titled “Horizon of Rising Light”, has been designed by architect Juan Meza and symbolises the inner
strength that Japan and Chile share in a world that is dealing with global warming, while the Finnish team’s entry is taken from Scandinavian folklore and is named “Chasing Day and Night.” The judging will take place on February 9, although members of the public can continue to make their own ice and snow sculptures throughout the festival. Some 220 blocks of ice have been placed in the park and other venues around the city for people to sculpt.
One of the highlights of this year’s event is a 15-meter-high replica of Tsuruga Castle, in Fukushima Prefecture, that was carved from snow by children from the prefecture and survivors of the March 11 natural disasters.
Organisers are expecting more than 2 million people to visit the festival, which involves dozens of related events, including at Maruyama Zoo, the Ishiyama Snow Fantasy, a winters sports festival on Mount Okura and snow candle-making events.
Most of the statues are illuminated in the evening. The Sapporo Snow Festival Museum is located in the Hitsujigaoka observation hill in Toyohira-ku, and displays historical materials and media of the festival.
Photo shows a snow sculpture of soccer player Homare Sawa (R), captain of the Japan women's national team and FIFA Women's World Player of the Year, at Odori Park in Sapporo, Hokkaido, on Feb. 6, 2012, at the 63rd Sapporo Snow Festival. The festival, one of Japan's largest winter events.
Musician 1st Class Brian Nefferdorf of the U.S. 7th Fleet Band, shows a little boy how to play the banjo during a performance at the Rera Chitose Outlet Mall in front of an audience of 444 local residents. Sailors from the U.S. 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), embarked U.S. 7th Fleet staff and Marines from Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team-Pacific are in Tomakomai, Japan for a port visit to participate in the 63rd Sapporo Snow Festival. The Sapporo Snow Festival, one of Japan's largest winter events, attracts two million people to Sapporo to see hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures.
The Chinese city of Harbin also hosts a major international ice and snow festival during the winter, while the Alaskan city of Fairbanks will again be staging the World Ice Art Championships from late February.
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