Last week, I, along with about 2 million others, descended on Odori Park in Sapporo to see some snowy statues. Sapporo’s Snow Festival is one of Japan’s largest annual events, and certainly its coldest event.
Snow festival display
The main displays are located right in the heart of Sapporo. 244 sculptures were on show in total, ranging from 30-metre high replicas of buildings, to over-sized cartoon-characters, such as Totoro and Anpanman. There was even a smoker’s room made of ice that, incredibly, didn’t melt.
It’s one of those unfathomable numbers, but 6,500 five-ton trucks were reportedly used to transport the snow and ice necessary for the displays. Fortunately, the Japanese National Self-Defense Force (aka The Army) was responsible for much of the planning and creating of the displays, so trucks weren’t hard to get hold of.
Snow food
You may call me fat, but I was actually more interested in the food stalls lining the streets. Japanese street food is some of the best in the world. Traditional favourites such as yakitori (skewered chicken) and takoyaki (octopus in batter) stalls stood alongside some Hokkaido specialties, such as miso-ramen (noodles in miso soup) and kani (crab).
There were also some international flavours on sale, such as German sausages and roasted almonds. The highlight for me, though, was the unexpectedly delicious Hot Cherry Beer – the perfect drink when you’re sightseeing in minus-13 degree weather.
Teaching in Hokkaido
Hokkaido has a noticeably different atmosphere to other parts of Japan, and it is an eminently livable place (if you can stomach the extreme winter). Although jobs in Hokkaido aren’t quite as common as some other areas in the country, there are still plenty of jobs to be found, not least at international schools and pre-school English clubs.
The best source for teaching jobs in Hokkaido is either the Hokkaido Insider, or the usual selection of sites such as Gaijin Pot.
If you are currently teaching English in Sapporo or anywhere in Hokkaido, we want to hear from you. Leave your comments below!
