We made a quick trip up to Sapporo for the 65th annual snow festival in early February. I'm from St. Paul, Minnesota (where we have our own winter carnival) so I was curious to see how Japan "did" a snow festival. One main difference is that they get a lot more snow in Sapporo (over 20 feet/year!) - it's one of the snowiest cities in the world. That translates to some giant, really impressive snow sculptures - and lots of people that want to see them. Over 2 million people visit Sapporo during the week of the festival to view these ephemeral snow and ice creations. Although it was crowded, it didn't detract from the beauty and I really enjoyed the festive atmosphere.
