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.