Sapporo Snow Festival 2010

If there's one thing that strikes you about Japan, it's the national doctrine of politeness. No matter whether you've spent 100yen or 10,000yen, you will be addressed with deference and given a small bow or nod of appreciation.

Everybody takes their job seriously, and there's always a sense of pride by anyone lucky enough to wear a uniform. Buttons are polished, ironed creases are flawlessly crisp and everyone seems to pull their shoulders back and hold their heads high.

On the shinkansen bullet trains--sleek, quiet, roomy and punctual to the advertised minute--the staff always issue a neat and precise bow or nod whenever they enter and exit each carriage. The refreshments cart, usually pushed by women in pink aprons, will pause, turn around, and bow as she trundles her way out. The ticket inspectors will announce their arrival with solemnity, issue a respectful call for tickets, and then bow and thank each passenger with a musical "arigatoo gozaimasu" once they've checked and stamped each ticket.


Obento stall at Osaka station

The other highlight of our trips on shinkansen is the opportunity to purchase obento lunch boxes for the journey ahead. Food is everywhere in Japan, and none more so than at train stations. There are shops in the underground passageways, within the JR stations, on the shinkansen concourse and on the platforms themselves. Obento stalls are always found at shinkansen areas, pre-prepared meals that are sold and served cold but still delicious.


Omuraisu plastic replica 750yen (about AU$9.40)

Plastic food models of every obento variant on offer make decisions a pictorial breeze. Obento is always about little morsels of delight, allocated to segmented boxes or coloured patty pans, that create a sense of gastronomic adventure as you explore each compartment. The boxes are often quite beautiful too, but close inspection will show them as plastic imitations of wood or laquer, a disposal artwork that comes with a free side-order of environmental guilt.


Omuraisu omelette rice

The similarity between the plastic food models and the meal before you is always uncannily accurate. Breakfast on day three of our trip is omuraisu, a mound of rice huddled beneath an omelette eiderdown patterned with peas.


Inside the omelette rice parcel

A sachet of brown sauce offers a tangy sweetness and there are other treats to explore: a patty of beef (super soft and spongy with fat chunks of onion), prawn cutlet, cold potato wedges, carrot, broccoli and a spoonful of mayonnaise-smothered sweetcorn.

It's an early start. We've left our hotel at 5.30am to get the shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo (zipping past a mostly slate-gray landscape that is blanketed by increasing amounts of snow), the monorail to Haneda Airport (a monorail that serves a functional purpose!) and then a 90 minute flight north to Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido.


Stools with clock faces

It's snowing when we exit the airport transfer train at Sapporo. As the snowflakes dance and swirl around us, we delight in the movie-magic scene just like a wide-eyed kid in a Christmas TV movie special. It's only when we head forth that we notice the banks of dirty grey snow built up on the footpath, the slippery patches of ice on the road and the squelch of puddles underfoot.

It's 2.30pm by the time we've checked into our hotel and we traipse into the nearest ramen house we can find for a late and ravenous lunch.


Aji No Tokeidai

It's not until much later that I realise we'd inadvertently visited Aji No Tokeidai, Sapporo's most famous ramen noodle restaurant that now has franchises across the country. It's well-noted by being patronaged by celebrities and, most notably, former Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama.


Gyoza pan-fried dumplings 280yen for five


Butter corn ramen in miso soup 1000 yen

The ramen menu here comes with three soup options: soy, miso or salt. I go for the local specialty: butter corn ramen. Hokkaido is famed for both its dairy products and its corn and this dish is a celebration of both, the corn sweet and juicy, and the cube of butter is pale and creamy. It melts slowly into the soup, a slick of gold that adds a rich silkiness.


Slotted spoon

I'm also quite taken by the slotted spoon that allows you to dredge the soup for hidden corn kernels.


Chashu ramen in miso soup 1050yen


Tonkotsu ramen 700yen

We've deliberately mapped our itinerary to coincide with the annual Sapporo Yuku-Matsuri, or Sapporo Snow Festival, a celebration of ice sculptures and ice carvings that brings in an estimated two million tourists each year from all over the world. I hadn't quite known what to expect, but as we made our way to Odori Park, it soon became clear that this is a spectacle like no other.


Snow sculpture near Odori Park

Odori Park runs for thirteen blocks and incredibly, almost every one of them boasts snow sculptures during the Sapporo Snow Festival. The festival is said to have started in 1950 when local high students built six snow statues in Odori Park. In 1955, the Japanese Self-Defense Force joined in with a massive sculpture of its own, and since then the event has grown to now boast an outdoor winter gallery of 300 exhibits with one section specifically set aside for sculptures made by local Sapporo residents.

The event is entirely free, with roads shut down and traffic police are on-hand to help direct the teeming flow of pedestrian traffic. It's a family-friendly event and there's a childlike sense of joy as everyone marvels at the artworks, particularly those built to an impressive scale and incredible level of detail.


Snow sculpture of Wartburg Castle, Germany


Chibi Maruko-chan snow sculpture,
the cast of a popular animated childrens show
which airs on Fuji Television Network


Snow sculpture of the Royal Palace of Baekje, Korea


Snow sculpture of a crocodile wrestler


Snow sculpture of Kita no Dobutsuen or Northern Zoos,
endangered animals that live at
Sapporo Maruyama Zoo and Asahiyama Zoo

The major centrepiece of this year's festival was the tribute to endangered animals that live at Sapporo Maruyama Zoo and Asahiyama Zoo. It was breathtaking in its enormity.


Penguins and a gorilla


Twin polar bears playing with their mother
beneath a Steller's sea eagle


Everybody's in for a photo


Howling wolves


Steller's sea eagle and snow leopard


Snow leopard up-close


Darkness falling

It's not a festival without food, and despite the crowds, there was plenty of seating and shelter at the designated food areas.


Hokkaido Winter Food Park


Chocolate-dipped bananas 300yen


Jumbo frankfurts 350yen


Barbecued corn 300yen


Makimaki sausage 400yen
Lamb steak 400yen


Rugged up for the cold

Did I mention the temperature? It must've been about -4C, a call for multiple layers of clothing and the perfect excuse for hot food.


Giant scallops


Giant scallop 150yen

We couldn't resist the offer of grilled giant scallops, fat offerings on the shell that came with the roe still attached.


Grilled squid

Grilled squid is tender, basted in a thick, sweet and salty sauce.


Hokkaido fried pumpkin in cheese 300yen

And I'm quite partial to my skewer of Hokkaido fried pumpkin in cheese, two balls of fried pumpkin dough that hold a molten lava of runny brie.


Mitarashi dango grilled rice cakes

By chance we all happened upon a group of sculptors. It was fascinating to watch, and a reminder of the effort involved in creating and maintaing these fleeting works of art.











The 61st Sapporo Snow Festival ran from 5-11 February 2010. This annual event is held for seven days in February.

Aji No Tokeidai (in Japanese)
Kita 1, Nishi 3, Chuo-ku
(opposite the Clocktower)
Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido
Tel: +81 (011) 242 6668

Chisun Hotel Sapporo
2-9, Kita Nijo-nishi, Chuo-ku
Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, 060-0002
Tel: +81 (011) 222 6611

New email subscriber service:
In response to reader requests, Grab Your Fork is now available for email subscriptions. Don't want to miss out on the latest updates? Prefer your dose of deliciousness delivered to your inbox? Add your email address and subscribe to the Grab Your Fork newsfeed now.

> Read the next Japan 2010 post

< Go back to the first Japan 2010 post


Related Grab Your Fork posts: