Sapporo Snow Festival: Where nature and human creativity create masterpieces

Sapporo is the capital city of Hokkaido and the fifth-largest city in the country. As Japan’s most northern island, Hokkaido boasts pristine wilderness, home to endangered Steller's sea eagle, brown bears, Ezo sika deer, and Japan’s revered red-crowned cranes.

Located in the subarctic zone, Hokkaido is no stranger to cold snowy winters. Winds hailing from Siberia bring with them cold temperatures and moist air that result in an annual snowfall of roughly 500 cm each year. In fact, Sapporo is the only city in the world to receive such snowfall and still support a population of close to two million. That is because the residents of Sapporo have not only come to live harmoniously with the wintry conditions but celebrate them.

The Sapporo Snow Festival began as child’s play, literally. Inspired by an elementary school’s ‘Snow Crafts’ Day and a junior high school’s ‘snow battle’ capture the flag game, students from local schools banded together to start the first snow festival by erecting six sculptures in Odori Square in 1950. Little could they have known what they had started. Since then, the city has rallied around the event, and over the years, the festival expanded greatly with entertaining stage events, food and drink booths, special lighting, and hundreds of snow and ice sculptures, the five largest of which can be up to 15 meters tall and take roughly one month to construct.

“To host a festival of this magnitude, an immense amount of manpower is required,” explains Kenichiro Ouchi, Manager for the City Tourism Development Section, “The creation of the five iconic large snow sculptures alone involves approximately 9,000 people. Additionally, venue security necessitates the deployment of around 3,000 personnel, and the festival relies on the contributions of over 1,000 volunteers, the support of the Snow Festival Executive Committee, local broadcasters and newspapers that manage the venue, construction companies, advertising agencies, sponsors, and exhibitors.” Considering the broader scope, it becomes clear that the festival's success hinges on the collective efforts of tens of thousands of individuals.”

One such individual, Hidenori Takagi, the current Vice Captain for the Sculpture Subcommittee 3, has seen bonds formed through volunteer work over his 18 years as a production staff member, “It’s really fun to gather with people outside of work to create something together for a common goal.” The work can be immense, but for Takagi and all the other production staff and volunteers, it’s all worth it, “I create these sculptures with tremendous focus, so it’s a big event for me. I’m so happy when people from all over the world visit the venue to see the finished product, and every time it’s completed, I can’t help but cry. It gives me a sense of purpose in life”

What the community puts in, the festival pays back. Ouchi states, “The Snow Festival has a wide-ranging positive impact on the local economy, affecting industries such as transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, and retail. A survey conducted in fiscal year 2022 revealed that the festival generated 45.6 billion yen in domestic consumption and had a total economic impact of 67.9 billion yen.”

Even with a large and dedicated community behind it, the festival has still faced a number of challenges. In 1974, the oil crisis impacted the transportation of snow necessary for larger sculptures. During these years, organizers had to get creative, so drums were used at the core of snow sculptures to fill them out. More recently, the COVID pandemic halted inbound tourism to Japan. While it was an economic blow to the city, it didn’t stop the festival altogether. The event moved online so people could still enjoy the sculptures from the safety of their homes.

Today, the festival faces its biggest threat yet: climate change. The Director General for the Tourism & MICE Promotion Department, Tomonori Aoyama, states, “We are facing various challenges, such as securing snow and maintaining snow sculptures due to climate change, as well as increasing costs and decreasing advertising revenue due to inflation. To address these unprecedented challenges, we need to find creative solutions." So far, those solutions have been to bring in snow from neighboring municipalities and repair sculptures during the festival.

The city is now looking at ways to hold a more sustainable Snow Festival and are considering strategies to address a variety of issues, including global warming. A concerted effort to address this issue is already underway, including the establishment of zero-emission zones and methods to reduce waste to create a festival with less impact on the environment.

In order to become an even more attractive destination for both domestic and international tourists, Aoyama states, “We aim to further establish our global position by not only showcasing the world-renowned appeal of Sapporo and Hokkaido's snow but also by promoting environmentally and community friendly local development." The Sapporo Snow Festival was born out of a desire to honor the coexistence of Sapporo’s stunning nature and the people who call the city home, so preserving that harmony with nature and community is fundamental as it moves forward.

Though the festival may be facing challenges, they are ones that organizers and the community are rising to face. Each year the festival continues to grow, not only in size, but also by widening the scope of involvement by bringing in more local businesses, incorporating creative ideas from overseas, and becoming more accessible so that everyone may experience the joy of this urban winter wonderland.

Find out more

Sapporo Snow Festival: https://www.snowfes.com/en/
Visit Sapporo: https://visit.sapporo.travel/