Hokkaido in Winter

One of the best experiences you can have in Hokkaido during the winter is soaking in an outdoor hot spring with a commanding view of snowy mountains or icy lakes, especially when it's snowing. This is a very, very classic example of the Japanese experience and should not be missed.

Most of what Hokkaido has to offer is its scenery and natural wonders. The two main national parks in Hokkaido, Daisetsuzan and Akan National Parks, offer spectacular scenery without the crowds that throng the rest of Japan. Especially beautiful are the lakes in Akan National Park, of which Mashu-ko is the most notable. In winter, hiking options are limited, but watching the sunrise from the lakeside more than makes up for that, especially when the weather is fine and you can see the lake surface clearly. This is normally not a problem in winter, but in summer, the lake surface is frequently obscured by fog.

The north coast of Hokkaido, facing the Sea of Ohkotsk, is also impressive in winter. From January to April, icebreaking ships depart from Abashiri up to six times a day to let tourists see the drift ice. The sunset cruise is especially popular.

Within the city, it's really the people and the strange sights in this strange land that are worth seeing, though local museums can be interesting too. If you're lucky enough to be in town when the Sapporo Snow Festival is on, the hundreds of snow and ice sculptures are definitely worth a look. All have been constructed with a great deal of detail, and some of them are simply gigantic.

Finally, the obento that you can buy at train stations and on certain trains themselves is an inexpensive way to sample the local cuisine without busting your budget at expensive restaurants. With most obento from these places priced from ¥800 to ¥1200, they offer good regional food at a low price. The places with the queues are usually the best. Ask the proprietor for his recommendation – in Japanese, of course.

Quick Tips:

By far the most challenging aspect of travel in Japan is the language. Learn to read the Japanese alphabet before going, especially katakana. Most signs in katakana are actually English words in Japanese script. Examples include "coffee," "restaurant," "hotel," and many, many others. Once you can put sounds to these words, things like navigation and ordering food will no longer be impossibly frustrating. Bring a pocket Japanese-English/English-Japanese dictionary to help in difficult situations.

Medication for diarrhoea and food poisoning is advisable, as the change to Japanese cuisine may be too much for some to stomach right away. And if you're eating plenty of sashimi, be prepared for the possibility of seeing the toilet just as often.

During the winter, temperatures in Hokkaido reach 1 or 2 degrees in the day and fall to anywhere from -4 to -10 degrees at night. Bring appropriate clothing, and don't forget a windbreaker – the wind speed on the north coast or at some of the passes can be incredible, especially if there's a snowstorm.

Most tips are common to any other destination – pack light; guard your passport, tickets and cash; research your destination properly before arrival; and make reservations where possible.

Best Way To Get Around:

Undoubtedly, the best way to get around Hokkaido is by car because of the flexibility it offers and because the remoteness of some places means that trains and buses only arrive a few times a day, which can really screw up your plans if you miss one.

However, with a little planning beforehand, you shouldn't have any problem with this. I personally chose to travel by train almost all the time because car rental is so expensive and also because I don't have a license yet (give me a break, I'm only 19). Whatever you do, don’t take any taxis. They’re way too expensive.

A seven-day unlimited-use ticket valid on all JR trains and buses costs ¥23750. Don't complain – you can easily spend double that if you buy individual tickets, especially if you follow my route around Hokkaido.

When in the city proper, the subway is the most convenient means of transport. Subway trains here come around once every 5-10 minutes, depending on the time of the day. A one-day subway pass costs ¥800, while a pass that includes the use of all buses costs ¥1000 (in Sapporo), but walking is usually sufficient. Besides, exercise is good for you.

One of the best youth hostels I have ever been to. The rooms and facilities are clean and new, the meals are hearty and delicious, and the staff is friendly. They even speak English! Even though four people share a room, the bunks have curtains which introduce some measure of privacy. And the view of the Tokachi mountain range from the windows on a clear day is fantastic.

During the winter, cross-country skiing is offered during the daytime. At night, you can see the owner's collection of slides taken from around the area or take a little walk outside to see the stars, if the sky is clear.

A place where half the guests could qualify for senior citizen benefits, people walk everywhere in their yukata, even to the restaurant.

The rooms (mostly Japanese-style) are stocked with Japanese desserts, a water boiler and plenty of tea bags. Meals in winter are at their restaurant, Hagoromo, and their dinner is every bit as tasty as they appear in their pamphlet. The hot springs themselves are sex-segregated, and the views from the outdoor rotenburo are much more impressive.

The surrounding area is packed with natural sights including the waterfall Hagoromo-no-taki, mostly reachable on foot. However, they're all inaccessible during the snow season, as I found out. You should definitely visit this place in summer or autumn when the trails are clear and when the foliage is at its best.

For more details and plenty of pictures of their hotel and the surrounding area, check out Tenninkaku's web page.

Forget the address: you can see the hotel from the station entrance or refer to the map on their website.

The rooms are smaller than they appear on the website, but you can't beat the price and location. It's even cheaper than the adjacent Hotel Shinbashi, which was recommended by Lonely Planet, at ¥5200 versus ¥6000 (excluding tax). Although the rooms are small, they are cosy and include a private bathroom and a pay-per-view porn channel, which seems obligatory for every self-respecting hotel (apart from youth hostels, that is). The room view was a concrete wall about 50cm from the window.

Breakfast at the hotel's restaurant costs 800 (without tax) and consists of a large variety of local dishes and a very generous serving of rice.

I'd recommend this place if you're on a budget or are too lazy to wait for the bus to the youth hostel, especially if you arrive at night and it's snowing heavily, as it was for me.

It was noontime and I had just landed at the airport. Being from Singapore, I couldn't help but notice that the temperature on this bright, sunny day was 1 degree. How toasty.

The first thing I did when I collected my luggage was to look for something to eat. It had already been more than 12 hours since I had left Singapore, and airline food was, well, airline food. I knew I should have asked for that Kids' Menu. Since I had heard so much about the obento readily available at train stations, I went to get some before buying my train ticket. It looked delicious but set me back a hefty ¥714 (S$11). Welcome to Japan.

The 7-day Hokkaido Free Pass did little to buck the trend either. At ¥23750 (S$390) for one, it was the single most expensive thing I would ever buy here. Not wanting to waste any more time, I hopped on a train bound for Asahikawa for an eventual transfer to Biei.

More interesting than the waiting area of Asahikawa station was the young Lotteria employee standing outside the fast-food outlet. Her job was to carry a huge poster advertising their latest burger while greeting every single passerby, making a short sales pitch, and thanking them when they continued walking by. She never stopped talking for the whole hour I spent in the waiting room. Poor girl. I know Japan’s economy isn’t very good right now, but surely it couldn’t be this bad? I’d get sick of her job in less than half a day.

I noticed the large numbers of schoolgirls on the train to Biei wearing those loose socks. This fashion, by now hopelessly passe in Shinjuku, was alive and kicking here in this remote part of Japan. Could the climate be the reason?

Darkness had fallen by the time I was picked up at the station to the Biei Potato-no-Oka Youth Hostel, a cosy place in the middle of nowhere. Dinnertime came soon after I had arrived. Luckily, everyone at my table could speak English reasonably well and we soon had a lively discussion about conscription. Was it a coincidence or was there some extraordinary behind-the-scenes planning by the hostel staff? We continued for two hours until 9pm, after which I had a relaxing soak in their bath. Just the thing for tired people.

I had to find a way to Takushinkan, billed by Lonely Planet as the highlight of the Biei area. The trouble was, there were no trains, buses or other forms of public transportation there, and to make matters worse, everyone I asked gave a different estimate of how long it would take to walk there from JR Biei station. The winter cyclist from Fukuoka whom I had breakfast with spoke excellent English. He estimated 30 minutes, but the hostel's driver who took me to the station told me 60 minutes. Slightly daunted by the distance, I considered taking a taxi there. The first taxi driver I asked doubled the last estimate to 2 hours. At this rate, I would definitely miss the train that would bring me to Asahikawa in time for the bus to Tenninkyo. And that was assuming that I didn't get lost on the way. Since the station was deserted too, I had no choice but to take a taxi there, hoping that LP's recommendation would not disappoint, especially when the fare was a hefty ¥2850. The driver left his name card with me when I alighted and told me to call him when I wanted to return. Tanaka-san seemed very assured that I would be a repeat customer - after all, would anyone in their right mind want to walk all the way back to the station with their luggage? I was determined to prove him wrong. But where in the world would taxi drivers in the middle of this rural area have their own name cards? Again, only in Japan.

Takushinkan itself was set just beside a tree-lined avenue through a plain of snowy fields, with a wonderful view of the Tokachi and Daisetsuzan mountains on the side away from the road. The inside was equally impressive, with beautiful pictures taken by Maeda Shinzo and his son, Maeda Akira, lining the walls at eye level. No wonder this place still attracted visitors in the middle of winter even though it was so inaccessible. I just had to return to Hokkaido during summertime. But now how was I to get back to the train station without burning a hole in my pocket?

In the end, I didn't have to wait very long before a small group of Japanese tourists were about to leave in their minibus. I got lucky the first time when they agreed to give me a lift to JR Bibaushi station, the nearest to Takushinkan. If I factored in the call charge, I had just saved over ¥3400 just by opening my mouth to ask for help.

My recommendation is to cycle if it's summertime or just rent a car. If you're travelling in a small group of about four people, it may be more convenient to take a taxi. If you're alone during the winter, the only options are to hike there or to hitch a ride. The taxi was way too expensive for my liking. But it's definitely worth a visit.

To my horror, I realised that I had forgotten to bring a plug adaptor for my camera's battery charger by the time the train stopped at Asahikawa. Since Japan was the land of denki, I figured that I should have no problem locating one. Four department stores later, I was still empty-handed. They had plenty of the latest fashions, but nothing remotely related to cameras. No choice but to ask for help again. I approached a salesgirl on the fifth floor of Marui Imai:

Onegai shimasu.
Sumimasen, Nihongo ga hanasemasen.
This was my standard opening line by now. "Sorry, I don't speak Japanese."

Immediately, the presence of a foreigner had attracted a small crowd of salespeople. Despite my poor command of Japanese, I nevertheless managed to get my point across. Once the lady I spoke to told me that they sold no electronic equipment, each member of the crowd at the counter sprang into action as though they had practiced this a hundred times before. (And they probably had.) One searched a telephone directory, another manned the telephone, another checked the street directory, another went to look for an English-speaking employee, and the last one stayed to reassure me that they were doing their best. In no time at all, they confirmed that Yamada Denki along Midori-machi sold the part I needed. And they even gave me directions on how to get there. If that weren't enough, they all bowed as I thanked them and took the escalator down, even though I had not purchased anything. Amazing.

In retrospect, perhaps the staff lived for situations like these, where they could derive satisfaction from helping someone as much as they could. I definitely provided them with an interesting distraction from the drudgery of their daily work.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to take the bus down to Yamada Denki. I caught the 3:10pm bus to Tenninkyo Onsen instead. As we ascended the mountains, the bus passed along the side of a valley. In the middle of the valley, the trees were buried so deep that only the tops of their branches were showing through the snow, which must have been at least 5m deep.

Upon arrival, we were bundled into Tenninkaku’s shuttle bus up to the hotel itself. It was entirely possible that there were cheaper places to stay, but once aboard the bus, there was no turning back. One night there cost ¥9600, including two meals. I got a feeling that I had got a much lower rate than I should have, judging from their advertisements in train station brochures, and the fact that I got a Japanese-style room for three people with my money. The buffet dinner was excellent, complete with sashimi, a grill, and even sukiyaki. Later on, I had my first experience of a rotenburo, an outdoor hot spring. Enjoying the view of the snowy valley while soaking in the hot springs, with snow falling softly from the heavens. . . It was a moment that I had only seen in books so far, and now it was a reality. This was the quintessential Japanese experience – magical and timeless.

Equally enjoyable was sitting in my room after the bath, drinking steaming cups of green tea while watching the snow fall silently into the valley. The yukata and happi that were provided were comfortable and only added to the atmosphere. I slept late that night.

Delightful as Tenninkaku may have been, it was still too expensive for me. Besides, there was still so much more I had yet to see in Hokkaido. I needed to get to Abashiri, but I had five hours to explore downtown Asahikawa before the tokkyu train to Abashiri left. The first thing which caught my just outside JR Asahikawa station in the morning were two propaganda trucks just like the one I had seen at Biei Station just yesterday parked in busy public squares, competing for attention and generally annoying everyone. If this was Singapore, they'd get arrested and thrown into jail in the blink of an eye. Unless it was PAP.

There was also a large group of concerned citizens protesting against Japan’s recent decision to send troops to Iraq. I signed their petition while an irritating cameraman hovered around me and got a free packet of tissues in return. Just what I needed. But I couldn’t help but wonder, Was it like this every day?

Right next to the politicians and protestors, people were sawing blocks of ice for the Asahikawa Ice Festival, an attempt to rival Sapporo’s. Although it boasted what was to be the world’s largest snow sculpture, it still wasn’t ready at the time. What a pity.

Every self-respecting department store in Asahikawa (and probably the rest of Japan) had a Valentine’s Day sale just inside the main entrance, selling mostly chocolates. Somehow, Valentine’s Day in Japan is a rather one-way affair, with only the girls giving their boyfriends gifts of chocolate. Not one to pass up a good opportunity to make more money, the Japanese have created a unique festival on March 14, to give the guys a chance to reciprocate all that chocolate.

I travelled all the way into the suburbs just to discover that Yamada Denki didn’t have plug adaptors for Singapore plugs to fit into Japanese sockets. The staff was so apologetic. Luckily, the power cable I saw would do the job just fine. At any rate, you could bet that they’d have the part in stock by the end of the week. Back at JR Asahikawa station, the same girl was hard at work outside Lotteria, doing that same tiring job. Didn’t she ever get sick of it?

Finally, the train to Abashiri arrived. It was so crowded that I had to stand for the first hour, but by some incredible coincidence Kobayashi-san, a young lady whom I had breakfast with at the Biei Youth Hostel just yesterday, was standing right next to me. We chatted until the train made a stop and emptied somewhat. The talkative obaasan I sat next to for the remainder of the ride was getting off at Kitami. Although she didn’t speak a word of English other than "yes" or "no", we were still able to communicate. She was Kawabata-san, a teacher at a school in Kitami, about 40km southwest of Abashiri. After learning that I was travelling alone and had no reservations for tonight, she offered to put me up at her house for the night. I declined, of course, but she wrote down her telephone number and address anyway and told me that if I should be unable to find any lodging for the night, to give her a call and she would drive over to JR Abashiri station right away. I managed to find a room at the Abashiri Green Hotel quite easily, and made a call to inform her that I had found a room for the night, just in case she sat next to the phone the whole night waiting for me to call.

By then, it was 8pm and way too late for dinner, so I had to settle for some onigiri (rice balls) and instant miso soup from the Lawson convenience store across the road. Despite being Japanese junk food, it was still tasty and made a filling meal.

Before making my way down to the cruise centre, I enquired at the train station’s tourist information counter if any more places were available on the 11am cruise. February may have been low season as far as the rest of Hokkaido (except Sapporo maybe) may have been concerned, but it was high season in Abashiri for seeing the drift ice on the Sea of Okhotsk. The crowds alighting from the train just the other day bore testament to that.

Luckily, there were still vacancies on board the Aurora. I paid the full fee of ¥3000 in advance at the counter and took a bus (¥210) to the docks. I was to experience how crowded Japan could be in high season. The centre was packed with locals, and also a significant number of Chinese and Taiwanese. And as I had already learned, any place with signage in more than one language was going to be very crowded. I browsed through their collection of kitsch before exchanging my purchase receipt for the ticket itself at one of the counters.

On board, the icebreaker left port and took about 15 minutes to reach the first of the drift ice. The sea of mini-icebergs was quite silent except for the loud music and commentary blaring from the ship itself. Eventually though, they were stopped and the boat slowed, allowing everyone to appreciate the view better. Not long after, the captain spotted a pair of seals basking on the ice on the starboard side of the ship and dutifully notified the passengers. I went along with the crowd to take a look, causing the ship to tilt noticeably. As we approached the seals, the tourists all started squealing (yes, they tend to do that) and scared off the seals into the water. What a pity.

On the stern, some passengers were feeding prawn crackers to the seagulls stalking us. Some of them flew to within arms’ reach while others flew directly above the passengers. Watch your head!

Contrary to what Lonely Planet says, the Akan Panorama Bus does run around thrice a day in either direction in winter. Depending on which bus you take, the bus will go from Abashiri to Bihoro, Kawayu Onsen, Mashu and finally Akan Kohan on the shore of Akan-ko, and also in the opposite direction. It makes stops at notable sights like Bihoro Pass, Sunayu, Io-zan and Mashu-ko of around 10-15 minutes each, just enough time to snap some pictures and buy some tacky souvenirs or use the toilet before moving off again. If you want to stay and explore the area, you’ll have to wait for the next bus, which can be quite a while. You can get more details on the fares and timings of other bus routes run by Akan Bus at their homepage.

I took the 1:40pm bus to Kawayu Onsen from Abashiri, which cost me a hefty ¥2100. The alternative was to wait for a local train, which would get there via Shari and bypass all the sights in the process. The scenery was unremarkable until we passed Bihoro and started making our way through the Bihoro pass. Although we did make a stop at a point overlooking Kussharo-ko, it was snowing heavily again with strong winds to boot, and none of the three passengers on the bus felt like staying outdoors. We ducked into the large, yet deserted souvenir shop to warm up before setting off again. I did get a shot of Kussharo-ko from the bus shortly after we left, though. The view from the bus as we were descending towards the lake was beautiful, hardly spoilt by the commentary that periodically threatened to distract us.

We made another stop at Sunayu on the shore of Kussharo-ko. There’s a small hot spring there, which ensures that at least a small portion of the lake surface isn’t frozen over. Plenty of ducks had gathered there to stay warm on this freezing day. I resisted the urge to buy one of the "Kusshie" soft toys and concentrated on appreciating the lake from my vantage point, with the constant quacks of the ducks as an accompaniment. (Kusshie is the lake’s very own Loch Ness Monster.)

Although I had planned to stay in Kawayu, my first impression of it was that it was another one of those luxury onsen resorts. A quick glance at the list of lodgings available quickly confirmed that. Most of their prices were around ¥8000 and up, more than what I was willing to pay. Instead, I decided to stay at the nearby Mashu-ko Youth Hostel. In the end, I had to wait an unbearable three hours at the freezing, deserted train station with a tiny little gas burner for the train to come late and take me two stops to Mashu station, where I would be picked up by the owner of the youth hostel. In my opinion, you shouldn’t even try to get to Mashu from Kawayu anytime after three in the afternoon – it’s not worth the wait. You should take the earlier bus that goes all the way to JR Mashu station instead.

It must have been the curry for lunch the day before. There was no other explanation. Being from Singapore, I was too used to Indian curry. Japanese-style curry is thick, made from 100% curry powder with no chili powder or coconut milk to thin the curry. It gave me a sleepless night the night before and it was only in the morning that I felt better. Luckily, it was snowing again, this time for the whole day, so there was no compelling reason to go outdoors. I stayed in bed until 9am, when the owner came to check on me.

Upon learning that I was suffering from food poisoning, he gave me some tiny red tablets for my condition and told me to rest well, since the roads were all inaccessible anyway. He could take me to a nearby hospital in the afternoon when the snow stopped if I still didn’t feel better by then, but warned that it would cost something like ¥5000-10000. As I was the only guest in the hostel that night, I was fortunate enough to receive special treatment. (When the guides all say that February is low season, they really mean it!)

The owner brought me a small bunch of bananas while another member of the family cooked porridge garnished with bits of seaweed and rice cracker for my dinner and breakfast the next day. Thanks to their efforts, I felt much better by evening. They didn’t even charge me for the meals, although they were not included in the room rate! I’d never get such good service in any other country.

I had decided to use the Internet access (¥100 for 30 minutes) at the youth hostel’s lobby the previous evening. I was just about done when the front gate opened and Kobayashi-san stepped in! It was the third time we had bumped into each other. It turned out that she was following more or less the same route as me. We both registered for the early morning tour of Mashu-ko (¥1500) which the hostel offered during the winter.

One of the most famous sights in Hokkaido, Mashu-ko is a caldera lake with crystal-clear water, surrounded by steep slopes. The three of us arrived at the First Observation Post just before 6:30am, after a 10-minute drive from the hostel. We put on snowshoes and the owner led us up a snowy ridge to get a better view of the lake than what you’d see at the observation post itself, which had already attracted a small crowd of photographers.

Barely minutes after we had stopped to admire the view, the sun rose over the edge of Mashu-dake, the mountain on the side of the lake. That was one of the most beautiful sights I had experienced on my trip so far. It looked just like it did in the tourist literature, only better.

I soon realised that I had made the big mistake of leaving my camera in the hostel. Luckily, Kobayashi-san had one and took some photos for me. We stayed for about 20 more minutes before leaving for the hostel again. She asked for my email address when we got back and promised to send them to me. I’ll upload them too once I receive them.

After breakfast, the owner gave us a lift to JR Mashu Station, where the three of us parted ways. The owner returned to the hostel, Kobayashi-san went to explore Mashu Onsen, and I took a train to Kushiro to see the cranes at Kushiro-Shitsugen National Park.

Literally meaning “Crane-Viewing Platform,” Tsurumidai is little more than a snowy field with an eatery and small souvenir shop joined together as one building near the bus stop. The bus fare is a steep ¥970 one-way from Kushiro, but at least I got to see over 50 cranes which had gathered at Tsurumidai.

The flock of cranes here congregate at the large field just outside the restaurant, but mostly at the smaller field on the other side of the road. The only thing was that they were rather far off. However, they would occasionally fly from one side of the road to the next in small groups of three or four, passing close by my location and looking very impressive as they did so. Unfortunately, I was never fast enough with the camera to catch a clear shot of them in mid-flight.

I caught the next bus back after about an hour of watching the cranes from the shelter of the restaurant and spent the rest of the day resting in my room at Hotel 946. Normally, I was quite wary of establishments with such names because of places like “Hotel 81” (sorry, Singapore-only joke), but when I placed my reservation with the counter at the train station, I found that it was really a humorous way of expressing “Ku-Shi-Ro” in Japanese.

I had anticipated that the Super Oozora from Kushiro to Sapporo would be packed with tourists arriving for the first day of the Sapporo Snow Festival. I considered paying the few hundred yen extra for a reserved seat, but decided against it. Since the train’s first stop was Kushiro, I figured that if I turned up early enough, I would be able to get a seat. It turned out that my concerns were unfounded. Almost every other passenger on the train had paid for reserved seats, and as a result, the unreserved cabin was actually less crowded than the other cabins! This was to remain the case even when we made stops along the way to pick up passengers. So if anyone else is planning on travelling from Kushiro to Sapporo while the Snow Festival is on, don't be tempted to waste your money on a reserved seat.

As soon as we arrived in Sapporo, I quickly transferred to a kaisoku train bound for Otaru. It arrived in about 30 minutes and I quickly made my way down to the famed Otaru Canal, which was about 500 metres on foot from the station. After all that time spent in the countryside, the hustle and bustle of the city was actually quite a refreshing change. But not for long. Otaru Canal was packed with mostly Korean and Chinese tourists with their tour buses in town for the Sapporo Snow Festival. Sure, Otaru Canal looked rustic, but it’s rather difficult to appreciate when the view is obscured by a mass of bodies. I would imagine that the place would be much more enjoyable outside of summer and the Sapporo Snow Festival, when all the crowds are gone.

On the way back, I stopped to browse through one of Otaru’s shopping arcades, but it wasn’t long before I had to take a train back to Sapporo to check in just in case my hotel decided to cancel my reservation.

Upon arriving in Sapporo from Otaru, I immediately moved to check into my room at the Toyoko Inn Sapporo-eki Kitaguchi, a member of the Toyoko Inn budget hotel chain, just across the road from the station. Quite a mouthful, but its name literally means "Toyoko Inn, Sapporo Station North Exit." As soon as I had left my bags in my room, I left to get something to eat before it got too late.

It was just inside the south exit of the JR building that I was given a great idea for saving money in a place like this. Someone was giving out free samples of melon jelly here, just in front of some local radio DJs who were broadcasting live from a glass-walled room near the station exit. It didn’t take me long before I realised that I might actually be able to eat my fill in this manner while staying on my budget.

The various department stores around the train station all had food outlets in their basement floors selling everything from rice balls to robatayaki, cakes, and even chocolates. And almost every one of them was giving out free samples. Since my conscience didn’t really allow it, I only ate from the stalls in one department store until I was about half full. I then went to the closest supermarket and got myself some instant wan tan noodles and some yogurt for about ¥280 in total to finish off the meal. Other tourists might have easily spent ten times my amount for dinner but not even come close to sampling the variety of food I got to try. I was to repeat this pattern with other department stores for my next two dinners. That said, I wouldn’t recommend you try this – it’s legal, but not very ethical.

Early in the morning, I purchased a one-day unlimited use subway ticket for ¥800 and took the subway one stop from Sapporo station to Odori, the narrow strip of land that runs through the commercial centre of Sapporo. Known locally as the Sapporo Yuki Matsuri, the festival can be described in two words: money spinner. The crowds here are almost as large as the snow sculptures themselves. That must be why so many of the photographs of the sites featured in the news were taken at night.

The festival actually consists of a great many snow and ice sculptures of varying sizes concentrated at the Odori, Susukino and Makomanai display sites, all accessible by subway. The Odori site features a collection of large and small snow and ice sculptures as well as works by international teams, Susukino has exclusively ice sculptures, while Makomanai has the fewest, but the largest snow sculptures.

The Sapporo TV Tower fills the plot of land before Odori 1-chome. Below it were many shops offering hot food and the same arrays of souvenirs featuring the SSF’s mascot, a smiling snowman, on everything from bags, mugs, and keychains to postcards and soft toys. They were already doing a roaring business at this early hour, milking tourists of their hard-earned cash.

The first of the snow sculptures were just in front of the TV Tower. Though these were the smaller sculptures only slightly larger than a Volkswagen Beetle, the truly gigantic displays were to be found across the road, further down Odori.

All the statues at Odori are positioned in a line stretching from the Sapporo TV Tower to Odori 12-chome. Visitors are supposed to walk to the end on one side of the display sites and return via the other, though in practice no one really paid any attention to it. Here’s a little breakdown of the first five sites:

1-chome: “Welcome to the Sapporo Snow Festival!”
This is really more an appetizer than anything else. All the statues here are small-sized, though some were pretty interesting.

2-chome: “Rainbow Monkey Castle”
I don’t know who came up with the name, but this area is entirely devoted to ice sculptures. Another group of activists had stationed themselves here and were collecting names and addresses for their “Return Japan’s Northern Territories!” campaign. They were petitioning the Russian to return the bits of northeastern Japan they had annexed in the closing days of World War 2. I signed it, of course, and got more tissues, a packet hand warmer, and some postcards and brochures in return. They seem to be very generous with the free gifts over here.

3-chome: “Meet with Cute Animals!”
This was the first of several ice slides that I was to see. The slope is completely made of snow, but the sides and bottom of the slide is lined with ice to make the surface that much more slippery. Don’t bother queuing here if you’re an adult – you’ll never fit.

4-chome: “Go! Go! (55) Matsui in NY” and “The Legend of Momotaro”
These were the first of the “large” variety of snow sculptures. Measuring up to 40 metres across and 15 metres high, these are the real crowd-pullers of the Snow Festival. The one featuring the softballer Matsui was even large enough to be used as a stage to hold some events during the day, including a group from the US Army band who played some simple parade music to keep everyone entertained.

5-chome: “Delicious! Love it! Hokkaido!” and the “Hanover City Hall”
The largest ice sculpture at the entire festival, the Hanover City Hall was clearly the main attraction at 5-chome. A very beautiful reproduction of the building half a world away in Germany, the blue colour of the ice was especially striking amidst a sea of white.

Further ahead were the next five sites:

6-chome: Rest Area
It’s a place thoughtfully provided for people to spend their money on more souvenirs and for smokers to tar their lungs inside closed rooms. I didn’t spend much time over here.

7-chome: "The Parthenon"
This was one of the more impressive snow sculptures at the festival. It looked positively monolithic, yet the people who constructed it had obviously paid a lot of attention to the tiniest details, like the frieze above the columns. Good thing they provided a viewing platform to allow tourists to actually see the sculpture.

8-chome: "Magistrate’s Office in Hakodate"
Although locals might take an interest in the historical significance of this sculpture, I wasn’t too impressed. Although it was large, it didn’t seem all that spectacular to me, but maybe the cold was just getting to me by this time.

9-chome: "Ski Slope at 9-chome"
A rather amusing sculpture of animals skiing down a gentle snow slope. I felt that this one was rather plain, though, partly because I was distracted by the display at the 10-chome site up ahead.

10-chome: "Dinosaurs!" and "101 Snowmen"
"Dinosaurs!" was the most popular with the crowd, and rightfully so. This one was also my personal favourite. All the dinosaurs were roughly life-size and no detail was spared in their construction, which meant that the display was simply colossal. Unfortunately, these snow dinosaurs will also meet the same fate as the rest of their kin – eventual extinction brought about by rising temperatures.

Odori 11-chome was the site of the International Contest, where countries all over the world competed to shape a block of snow 3.5m by 3m by 3m into a sculpture of their own design. The focus of the statues ranged from characters and scenes to abstract art, especially by the European entrants. Sweden was to win the competition, followed by Thailand, the runner-up.

There was even a team from my country of Singapore! Unfortunately, the sculpture was predictably nothing but an advertisement for Singapore. What else could you expect when it’s titled “Singapore – A Garden Oasis Amidst a Vibrant Cityscape”? I got the feeling that our country would not allow anyone to represent it unless it publicised our country. The little write-up they had under the title offered me no consolation either: “Singapore – truly a city like no other”, “Come and discover”, “Take away memories that are truly Singapore”, etc. Maybe we ought to be less concerned about making money and selling our country everywhere we go and just have a good time instead. Truth be told, I was rather glad that they didn’t win anything. I didn’t mention any of this to the team members working on the sculpture out of courtesy, though. I made an excuse and quickly left for the displays in the Susukino district after I had seen all the International entries.

A few blocks south of the TV Tower, Sapporo’s entertainment district of Susukino also had a large number of ice sculptures lined along one street, but no snow sculptures. Most of the sculptures were, in my opinion, not very interesting, but there was one that caught my attention. Titled Pride, it depicted a wounded lion rearing on its hind legs. It was remarkably evocative, more so than most of the other sculptures I had seen in Sapporo so far.

Along this street were a large number of establishments specialising in UFO catcher machines and nothing else, with a staggering array of prizes just waiting to be picked up, even fresh eggs! And you thought that only the Japanese vending machines sold such a variety of goods. But at prices ranging from ¥100 to ¥200 a try, it was way too expensive for me. Instead, I amused myself for about 20 minutes by watching a group of schoolgirls try to catch a giant Eeyore. They eventually got it.

On my way to the Makomanai site, I was constantly reminded by signs and posters that it was accessible from the Jietai Mae (literally "Before the Self-Defense Force") subway station and not Makomanai station. As the name of the nearest subway station implied, the Makomanai site was actually located inside an army camp, but the place looked more like a fairground at the time.

I had to pass through metal detectors and have my bag checked before entering, but at least the whole process was speedy and I didn’t have to wait long before I was allowed inside the sprawling campground. Located near the ubiquitous snack and souvenir stands was a portable ATM operating inside a truck, the first of its kind I had ever seen.

The five large snow sculptures at the site were roughly arranged in a line, most of them equipped with larger versions of the ice-lined slides at Odori. I queued for the largest slide at the Friends of the North radial slide (20m long!) but gave up after about 3 minutes, since the line was hopelessly long and it was clear that I would have to wait at least another 30 minutes in the freezing weather. Instead I wandered over to take a look at the rest of the sculptures.

The main draw was the snow stage featuring the Taj Mahal, which was also elaborately done. On it was the same US Army band that I had seen just the day before, playing the same songs with yet another breathless-sounding announcer to introduce them. The remaining three sculptures all depicted popular children’s cartoon characters like Shimajiro, Doraemon and Aozora. Needless to say, all three of them had slides for the kids too.

Besides the usual police presence that was also seen at the Odori and Susukino sites, there were military officers standing around to ensure order, help kids into the slides, and describe their snow sculptures to any interested tourists, which they were happy to do over and over again. At least the few weeks leading to the end of the Snow Festival allowed the soldiers a welcome respite from the drudgery of their daily training.

Just a note of caution before starting: everything in Japan is horrendously expensive. What else would you expect from a country where a movie costs around ¥2000 per person or a coin locker costs ¥300 to use? Far more interesting is window-shopping or people-watching – looking out for the bizarre and interesting in a land completely foreign to most of us.

Tanuki-koji, a covered shopping arcade some seven blocks long, is located between Odori and Susukino. In and around it is Sapporo’s prime area for such sights, as I discovered just after visiting the Makomanai site. For more mundane and predictable sales outlets, you can try the brand-name department stores near Sapporo station instead.

The area around Tanuki-koji is dotted with numerous eateries, pachinko parlours, video-game arcades (some consisting entirely of photo sticker machines like "Neoprint"), hobby shops specialising in guns and swords, places selling only trading cards or figurines, hundred-yen shops and the like. To me, that was far more interesting than the repetitiveness of a department store filled with floors and floors of clothes.

Most of the smaller, more casual establishments here do not charge the 5% consumption tax if you don’t insist on a receipt, saving you many a penny should you decide to splurge. However, they lack the polished grace and refined service normally associated with the classic department-store employee.

Moving westwards from Tanuki-koji 1-chome, a good route that I followed was to explore the shopping arcade itself before proceeding to browse through 1-chome to 7-chome, moving north and south in a zigzag pattern. That way, you can be sure that you’ve covered everything in the area. But don’t buy too much – if you need someplace to put down your shopping, you may have to return to your room to place your purchases, losing valuable daytime. This is especially important during the winter, when most shops open at 10am and close at 8pm. Once I was done with that, I moved on to explore the vast underground shopping complex underneath Tanuki-koji.

Warning: If more than 90% of the customers at any bookshop are male, you can be certain that it is selling pornography although there won’t be any such pictures on display. Enter only if your conscience permits.

Having scouted the area the day before, I arrived at the entrance of Tokyu department store to do some last-minute shopping at 9:50, just ten minutes before opening time. The department store opened at exactly 10am and two Tokyu employees were already standing just inside the sliding door entrance to greet us, then bow and welcome us to Tokyu.

As I walked in and made my way to the escalators in the middle of the building, more staff positioned at the side of the main walkway bowed, greeted and welcomed me just as the first two had done. On the way up to the fifth floor, I was greeted by two more salesgirls at the end of every escalator up, giving everyone the same treatment as their colleagues had. Looks like those stories about Japanese department stores at opening time were true after all.

I took about 30 minutes to select and pay for the stuff I had been looking for and returned to pick up my luggage from the hotel lobby before making it on board the crowded airport kaisoku train with barely a minute to spare. Although the train ride was a real squeeze, it only took 35 minutes to whisk us to the airport.

In the midst of this chaotic sea of people, I couldn’t help but notice the gracious social habits of the Japanese. Everyone on the train platform automatically stands to the side to let all alighting passengers get off first before they board, even those upstart teenagers who spend all their time on their cell phones. They don't try to enter as soon as the doors open. By some unspoken rule, everyone will automatically stand at the left side of escalators, leaving an entirely blank file on the right for those in a hurry, or give up seats to senior citizens, no matter how crowded it is. And they don't need unceasing reminders over the PA system or posters or Courtesy Campaigns to get them to do it. Such gracious behaviour across all strata of society can only be found in Japan and nowhere else. The rest of the world would do well to emulate them in this regard.

I spent what little time I had before my flight browsing through airport shops crowded with hordes of tourists coming to or leaving the Sapporo Snow Festival. In addition to the usual array of kitsch, almost every store was selling food typical of Hokkaido – crabs, salmon roe, potatoes, milk, cheesecake and so on. And just as it was in the basements of department stores, everyone was giving out free samples. I managed to eat a number of cheesecake samples before I made my purchase. Delicious.