Yuki Matsuri 2018

The Yuki Matsuri or Sapporo Snow Festival is something that I had dreamed of going to since I first found out about when I was 10 years old. So as you could imagine, I was beyond excited when I booked the trip on my winter vacations while I was living in japan.

The Sapporo Snow Festival (さっぽろ雪まつり, Sapporo Yuki Matsuri) is held during one week every February in Hokkaido's capital Sapporo. It is one of Japan's most popular winter events. The Sapporo Snow Festival was started in 1950, when high school students built a few snow statues in Odori Park.

As someone who grew up and in now resides in a warm tropical climate, the magnitude of the snow required to build all of these snow sculptures was unfathomable when I first arrived. The sheer size of the main sculptures is breathtaking. Either that or the cold was taking my breath away. Some of the larger sculptures can take weeks to months to construct.