Pics

FACT: Sapporo receives the most snow for any large northern metropolitan center.

This fact was clearly illustrated for me yesterday. I was only in Sapporo for a couple of hours to fix a passport problem (that has thankfully been put to rest) but in that span of time the heavens opened and dropped a ton of snow; sometimes white and fluffy, other times wet and heavy, maybe 20 cm in all. Problems arise because there is simply no where to put the stuff in the middle of the day. Thus everything becomes a mess. During the night, big earth movers come and take it to the ocean. But in the mean time, pedestrians and cars alike take their lives in there hands to get around.

The Gods were also smiling on me because my passport problem coincided perfectly with the Sapporo Snow Festival, furthermore, the office was only a block off Odori Park, which is where the festival is held. I had every excuse to walk through the park to get to my appointment.



The biggest attraction this year was a huge ski/snowboard jump they built in the middle of the park. Sadly there was nothing going on when I walked by after dinner. Also interesting is the ice sculpture pictured above below. It has a long and interesting description that is not easily deduced from the image. The ice sculpture is not Egyptian, like I first thought, but represents a Persian antiquity. It's connection to anything winter or Japan related is unclear. Furthermore, seen on the right side of the image, is the famous Yamaha electric organ put inside a polyhedron (<--- first appearance of this word in my blog!). Again, it's connection to Persian history remains unclear. Lastly, at this stage, a Japanese version of "The Phantom of the Opera" was being piped in. It's connection to Persian antiquities, a snow festival, or mathematics is unclear.