Sapporo Yuki Matsuri 2008

The world-renowned Sapporo Snow Festival, when the city basks in the attention garnered from massive sculptures made from snow airlifted from other parts of Hokkaido. Due to an influx of Chinese tourists, it’s also the only time of the year when you’d hear as much chatter in Mandarin as in English. And of course, seeing some friends for the first time since December was great. Snow and shenanigans never worked together so well!

This year there was a special sculpture celebrating the upcoming G8 Summit in Lake Toya, about an hour away from Sapporo. It featured famous landmarks from each of the G8 countries, including the Statue of Liberty, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and yes, Toronto’s own CN Tower. The theme was “Protect the Environment For Our Children’s Future”, which is very ironic considering Japan’s record for ravaging the environment. But that’s for another post. On with the sculptures!