For the 5th time, I am here in Sapporo to see the Snow Festival. Last year’s Star Wars snow sculpture was awesome but this year’s Shingeki No Kyojin is also cool. The sculpture featured the gigantic man-eating humanoid together with Sapporo’s very own Akarenga (Former Hokkaido government building) and Sapporo Clock Tower.

But this is not the only treat for the anime and manga enthusiasts. The world famous Dragon Ball also has a giant snow sculpture with Goku. Dragon Ball celebrated its 30th anniversary November last year.

The 67th Sapporo Snow Festival kicked off just yesterday, Feb. 5th featuring 208 snow sculptures. These include the life-size bullet train depicting the real one that will have its maiden voyage this March 26th, the first shinkansen in Hokkaido, connecting Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station in Hakodate with Shin-Aomori Station in Aomori.

Another massive display is the very intricate replica of Macau’s Ruins of St. Paul. I’ve seen the real one during my visit in Macau many years ago and I can say that the snow replica is more jaw-dropping.

Aside from the snow sculptures, there are the usual food stalls, performances, the snowboarding exhibitions and the 43rd international snow sculpture contest. This year, 12 teams are competing which includes Australia, Daejeon Metropolitan City (Korea), Finland, Hawaii, Indonesia, Latvia, Macao, Malaysia, Poland, Portland（United States), Singapore and Thailand. The winner will be announced on Tuesday.

We also went to the second venue of the festival, the Susukino Ice World with several ice sculptures.

It was again a wonderful festival and I am looking forward to see it again next year.