Hokkaido Day 13
The big one - Sapporo Snow Festival day!
The end of Day 13 in Hokkaido, and the end of the second day of the Sapporo Snow festival. Finally got around to visiting all 11 blocks of Odori Park and seeing what exhibits and sculptures there were. A few of the blocks had massive snow-sculptures that were multiple stories tall, and the 11th block (which normally has park decorations celebrating internationalism) contained displays from some of the many sister cities Sapporo has across the world.
I also got the fantastic opportunity to connect briefly with Tetote (Hand and Hand), an organization in Sapporo that is supporting the event to provide accessibility options for Disabled visitors to the venue as well as provide tie-ins with other programs that they do which support Disabled people in the region. You can find more information about them as an organization here: tetote.org I plan to connect with them soon to share information about what the Seattle Disability Commission does and learn more about their support systems. Also briefly, I got to talk to some of the ice sculptors with the Portland-Sapporo Sister City association and give them a couple of lanyards as a gesture of neighborly spirit.
The thing about the festival which stands out to me are the blended modes of sponsorship that they have - and the sheer size. Given Sapporo’s size, I suppose it’s not surprising that this would be the biggest Winter Festival in Hokkaido, but the scale certainly feels like something else.
One last note - There’s a bust made of snow of a man that has statues peppered throughout Sapporo, William S. Clark, the vice president of Hokkaido University and an agricultural advisor who came to Hokkaido from America to provide technical support on developing Hokkaido’s agricultural capacity 150 years ago (He was also a colonel who served the Union during the American Civil War.) I may write a piece about him at some point, because the story - and the modern legend - is amazing.
Tomorrow I’m headed off from Sapporo towards Otaru, where we’ve got another festival to attend!
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