Ohayo. Ohayo. New Jersey.

A kingdom of gigantic snow sculptures, millions of snowmen (even a young Calvin would be proud of), and smoking enclosures made completely of ice…otherwise known as Sapporo during its famed Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival) was quite the sight to behold.  It’s a “must do at least once” if you are in Hokkaido.  Coming from a place where we have ice and snow sculptures of our own (Iced Geodesic Living Options), I’ve seen the run-of-the-mill sculptures, however these were of a gigantic scale and could stand to impress even the seasoned folks.  My fave was a life size replica of Seoul’s Namdaemun (Northern Gate) that was built by the Japanese military (can’t you feel the irony?).  I even got to see some of Japan’s Olympic gold medalists as they stood in front of their giant snow replicas.  While snow is cool, it isn’t as cool as ice (haha).  Sapporo’s red-light district, Susukino, was lined with ice sculptures.  The polarity between families looking at wholesome sculptures and the seedy secretary bars only added to the unique atmosphere of the festival.  Sapporo certainly doesn’t play down its dark underbelly during the festival as I was asked several times if I wanted to come on in from the cold…unfortunately for me, bleached blonde hair and girls in nurses outfits aren’t quite my thing.

Just prior to this snow and ice extravaganza, a few friends and I made an excursion out to Jozenkei just south of the city.  It’s a touristy onsen town nestled in the mountains.  When we went, there weren’t as many tourists as I expected and the streets were mostly empty.  We found a lovely hotel onsen and soaked for an hour overlooking the snowy mountains.  Certainly doesn’t get better than that.  I found the most charming part of the town to be its random outdoor footbath.  It was a small gazebo-like enclosure with benches and a small natural onsen spring.  Everything was covered in snow and beautiful doesn’t quite sum up its character.

Back in Sapporo, the nightlife didn’t fail to impress, as always.  Callie had her Sparking (!) Hip Hop performance at a small theater in Susukino.  The Gaijin crowd was there to represent, in full force, and we were a bit of a running joke throughout the night.  Some of the acts were surprisingly good and made me miss the good ole Repertory Dance Group days of college-dom.  Being as popular as I am, I met up with some other folks from another part of the island after the dance performance and we struck out to get our karaoke on.  And that we certainly did.  Even after that, at around 3 in the morning, with beer in hand (so fashionable here in Japan) we toted on over to a big arcade and tried our hand at some taiko drumming, UFO Catcher, and group Mario Kart racing.  We were super cool and I know you’re jealous.