A popular annual snow festival kicked off in Sapporo on Sunday, with food and drink areas set up after being canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year's Sapporo Snow Festival, set to run until Feb. 11, features a total of 196 snow and ice sculptures at three venues.
Sculptures at the main Odori venue include those based on themes such as "Golden Kamuy," a popular manga series set in Hokkaido; Es Con Field Hokkaido, the home stadium of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters professional baseball team, which opened in March 2023; and Tsuyoshi Shinjo, manager of the Fighters.
Other sculptures on display include an Asian elephant born at Sapporo Maruyama Zoo last year and major league baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani, who played for the Fighters before starting his career in the United States.
In 2023, the Sapporo Snow Festival took place at physical venues for the first time in three years, after a suspension brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, attracting about 1.75 million visitors. But food and drink areas were not set up in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
This year's snow festival is almost the same as the events held before the pandemic. "We want both Japanese and foreign visitors to enjoy" the 2024 Sapporo Snow Festival, an official of the event's executive committee said.
