Memoir (11) by Professor Joe Watkins, University of Arizona, USA
Okay, I admit. I just had to try it. No, not THAT. I meant the Sapporo Snow Festival!
Running from February 4th through the 11th, the Sapporo Snow Festival opened after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and this time it did so without food booths [sigh]. The sidewalks were crowded and a little slippery, but I did have fun.
I had asked my co-workers about the Festival, and they indicated that it was good to visit it at least once and that they probably would visit again only if they had visitors from out of the country. It was an easy walk from my apartment on a Sunday afternoon, and so, off I went. I always enjoy walking through the Sapporo Underground Pedestrian walkway on the weekends and looking at all the various pop-up shops.
I climbed the stairs out of Aurora Town at Odori Park and immediately was swept along with the crowd. We walked to the west toward 10-chome on the north side of the park before doubling back to the east along the south side. Most of the people followed the rules, but others seemingly flouted them as they somehow got others to move out of their way. It’s easy, and with the iconic Sapporo TV Tower at the eastern end of the Park, it’s easy to know the distances – about 1.5 kilometers (slightly more than an American mile).
This is the first time I’ve been around this much snow, even though I did live in northern New Mexico for a couple of years, and I think it great that the locals have found good use for it. I’ve made snowmen and snowwomen in the past, and even made an igloo when I was a teenager, but I haven’t thought about sculpting snow. Even if I had, I would not be able to do as good a job as the ones done by the people of Sapporo.
I am going to try to go to the other venue in the Susukino entertainment area to view the ice sculptures one evening this week before the Festival ends. I guess that, if you are going to be cold, it’s good to be cold for a real reason rather than just because you have to wait for a bus or a traffic light to change.
Snow sculpture Hokkaido in the Cretaceous Period – Tyrannosaurus Rex & Kamuysaurus. Produced by The Sapporo Snow Festival Large Sculpture Committee, Sculpture Subcommittee 3 (NPO Hokkaido Association for Development of Area Culture).