Winter wonderland

In temperatures around minus three degrees Celsius, Japanese children wearing thick sweaters, knitted caps and warm shoes stare at a large sculpture entitled "Milk Land Hokkaido", trying to measure how large it is. Not far away, under the supervision of their teachers, a group of pink-cheeked girls sit in front of the sculpture, concentrating on drawing it in their books. Surrounding them are people in winter outfits enjoying other large sculptures nearby and taking photos with their friends and families.

These were among the several thousand tourists, both Japanese and foreign (but mostly from Asia), at the 58th Sapporo Snow Festival, which ran from February 6 to 12. This year, the festival featured 10 large and 12 small ice sculptures by Japanese and international artists, as well as "citizens' snow sculptures" made by Japanese visitors.

Thanks to a six-month winter (from November to May), Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island, has plenty of snow and ice for creating great sculptures, which attract visitors and generate huge income, but also strengthen bonds between Japan and other countries. The annual event's showcase of snow sculptures replicates historic landmarks in Japan, Hokkaido itself, and other countries.

Among the 10 large sculptures this year were the Palace of Darius I, The Beijing Imperial Palace's Hall of Supreme Harmony, The Great Wall of China, Japan's Hikone Castle and Thailand's Chakri Maha Prasat Grand Palace, which was created to celebrate the 120th anniversary of Thai-Japanese diplomatic relations.

Other large sculptures featured cartoon or movie characters, famous travel destinations and the product Hokkaido is renowned for - milk. Many of them soon became playgrounds for the children.

The festival was a celebration of learning, creativity and human effort. It took a long time out in the freezing cold to turn huge amounts of snow into such beautiful sculptures. Some of the results were three storeys high with exquisite detail, and the historical sculptures invited one to imagine how the real places look - even Bangkok's Chakri Maha Prasat Grand Palace, which I can easily visit any time.

At one end of Odori Street there was also an exhibition of sculptures that won prizes in the 34th International Snow Sculpture Contest, a vintage year. Thailand made another appearance here, the winner of the second prize being a sculpture of two friends - a Thai boy dressed in traditional muay thai attire holding hands with a Japanese boy in Sumo attire. The Thai team that created it was among 17 international teams that entered the competition. I felt proud of this Thai feat, all the more impressive given that thecountry has never experienced snow or a real winter. Nearby was an exhibition of small snow sculptures made by members of the public.

All along the lively street, babies and children with ruddy cheeks and colourful winter outfits (even the little dogs were wrapped up warm) became photo opportunities in themselves - particularly for a Thai like me.

However, the weather was so cold that I needed a hot drink if I was going to survive the full tour of sculptures. Luckily my friends found a shop in front of the "Milk" sculpture, and everyone got a cup of hot chocolate. Warmed up a little now, we browsed in the shops, looking for "hot-patch plasters" - a unique Japanese invention - to prevent our feet from freezing: Our shoes weren't really designed for snow.

The hot-patch plasters are actually small bags containing minerals that are shaken to produce heat. A kind Japanese couple saw us preparing to put them in our shoes, and they came over to explain through body language that we should actually place the under our clothes.

It wasn't long before we became photo opportunities ourselves, a young couple handing us their baby and snapping away. Then another family, on discovering where we were from, demanded a group picture.

We couldn't speak Japanese and they couldn't speak Thai, but helpful and friendly attitudes and wide smiles bridged the language gap.

After two hours we hurried back to the bus anxious not to disrupt the strict itinerary that the efficient Japanese had organised. We took in more of the wonderful festival atmosphere through the windows of the busuntil we arrived at a restaurant for a very welcome hot meal.

Taking off from Sapporo the next morning for Tokyo and a connecting flight to Bangkok, my eyes were fixed on the white land below, trying to absorb even more great memories of Sapporo and the snow-clad island of Hokkaido.

The writer travelled to Sapporo as a guest of Thailand's Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation

Sapporo, Japan