Recent animal rights complaints had some thinking plans would be scrapped, but the eve mainstay will be part of this year’s event after all.
Back in November, SpaceWorld, an amusement park located on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, attracted criticism for decorating its ice skating rink with a selection of aquatic life encased in the ice. Some of the ire directed at the park cooled when it came to light that the fish being used had been sourced from seafood markets where they’d been deemed unfit for sale, but many still took issue with deceased animals being used as decorations.
However, on the other side of the country, plans for an art installation featuring frozen fish are full steam ahead. The Sapporo Snow Festival, one of the biggest tourist draws for the northern island of Hokkaido, gets underway today. The event is now in its 68th iteration, and for 33 of the past festivals, one of the displays has been of blocks of frozen fish. With the backlash against SpaceWorld’s skating rink being less than three months old, many thought the frozen fish display would be scrubbed from this year’s Snow Festival, but organizers have announced that such an installation will once again be part of the festivities.
▼ Last year’s installation
Created by a committee whose members include Sapporo’s Susukino Tourist Association, this year’s frozen fish display will feature nine blocks of ice measuring one meter (3.3 feet) long by 54 centimeters (21.3 inches) wide and 27 centimeters deep, containing nine types of Hokkaido sea life, including the prefecture’s prized salmon and snow crab. “The displays are art, and we would like to continue producing them in the future,” said Seiichi Shinoda, the Susukino Tourist Association’s chairman.
The installation will be exhibited in the Snow Festival’s Susukino display area, near Sapporo Station, for the duration of the event, from February 6 to 12.
Sources: Yahoo! Japan News/Hokkaido Shimbun via Jin, Hokkaido Shimbun, Twitter/@isana23210