READY. SET. SNOW.

Backstage is always more interesting than onstage. Onstage is where the magic happens; backstage is where it is created. So whilst our breakfast options were severely limited due to the early hour, at least we got to witness the entire city of Sapporo get ready for the Snow Festival.

It's a massive operation. Entire boulevards are blocked. Traffic is diverted. Streets are blasted with salt to clear the way for trucks carrying massive ice blocks to get to their destination. Armies of ice sculptors mould blocks of ice into monuments that would attract millions of tourists' cameras, thus setting into motion the city of Sapporo's biggest yearly PR campaign.

It's breathtaking.    

Honestly - just honestly - I worried, even with sub-zero temperatures, that the ice sculptures would melt if exposed outdoors for hours. I'm from the Philippines. Everything melts - candles, make-up, people's faces, corrupt regimes, etc. And with two more days to go before the Snow Festival officially began, it was easy to fall into panick, agitation or distress that the beautiful sculptures would become disfigured monsters by the time the festival opened. So it bode pretty darn well that it snowed heavily every day in Sapporo. There was no danger at all that the very reason we traveled there was in danger of... well... not happening.


I happily snapped photos as blocks of ice gradually took familair shapes. There was Simba, manga characters, animals, famous monuments, etc.

Magical.

I felt so lucky to have been there as it all happened. That people can craft and celebrate the bitter cold into something that unleashes imagination and the greatest sense of community - it truly was a triumph of the human spirit 

// SAPPORO GETS READY FOR THE SNOW FESTIVAL //



Dedicated to the memory of those who, a year ago today, perished from the earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear crisis in Fukushima.

May their souls rest in peace.