Star Wars, anime favourites, and tennis pro Naomi Osaka all make an appearance at this year’s event.
Sapporo Snow Festival
Come for the fire-breathing dragon vs. Dragoon action, stay for the iconic victory fanfare.
Towering snow sculptures pay homage to Final Fantasy and Osamu Tezuka’s beloved anime characters.
Fans of Star Wars, Final Fantasy and Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen have fallen in love with this year’s breathtaking giant displays.
Missing out on the 67th Sapporo Snow Festival? Check out some of the snow sculptures that have been popular on Twitter!
It’s less than a month till the Snow Miku 2016 festival! And even more fans will be delighted this year, as Miku teams up with μ’s from Love Live!
As sad as we are to say it, the 66th Annual Sapporo Snow Festival has now come to a close. In case you missed our coverage this year, this is when people from around the world come the snowy city of Sapporo, Hokkaido to create massive and gorgeous works of art out of ice and snow.
However, a lesser-known festival has been spreading around Twitter recently. It’s the unofficial Sapporo Demolition Festival, where excavators come in and mercilessly rip apart these massive and gorgeous works of art. While it doesn’t have the same international drawing power of the Snow Festival, many people have been on hand at the Demolition Festivals past and present to take plenty of video and images of the fun.
Last week, we took a sneak peek at the upcoming Sapporo Snow Festival by checking out an icy rendering of an idol trio from hit anime Love Live! Freaked out as we were by their unfinished yet crazed expressions, it turns out Umi, Honoka, and Kotori aren’t the most intimidating characters showing up at this year’s event.
That title goes to the massive snow sculpture of fallen Jedi Darth Vader, who rolled into the largest city in Hokkaido with the sort of backup that’d you’d expect from the Supreme Commander of the Empire’s space fleet.
The key difference between being an idol singer and a pop diva is warmth. Even if you’ve got perfect pitch and unshakable rhythm, if you want to succeed as an idol, you still need a heart-melting smile. Really, as long as you’ve got the smile, idol fans will even cut you a lot of slack on not having the other two.
So it’s a little unusual to gaze upon this trio of anime idols and feel a chill run down your spine, and not just because they’re made of snow.
The annual Sapporo Snow Festival held in Japan’s northernmost prefecture has been delighting tourists and locals for over six decades. Each year, artists from around the world are invited to show off their talents constructing enormous structures out of ice and snow.
To commemorate the release of the seventh installment of the Star Wars series, The Walt Disney Company has collaborated with festival officials to design what looks to be the most epic large-scale snow sculpture yet, featuring enormous snow versions of Darth Vader, three Storm Troopers, a TIE fighter, and the Death Star.
Last year we brought you a firsthand account of the 2013 Sapporo Snow Festival, with more images of snow and ice sculptures than you can get your tongue stuck to. This year, we’re sad to say we couldn’t make it out to the annual event up in Japan’s northernmost prefecture, so we’ve been living vicariously through Twitter users. Some of the images we’ve seen are too good not to share, so we decided to give you a little taste of the snow festival through the following gallery of images from Twitter.
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All Japanese customers banned from restaurant…in Japan?!?
Popular Korean YouTuber boycotts Japan by shredding flight ticket to pieces at airport【Video】
Otaku lie down in the streets of Tokyo to be comforted by beautiful anime mom【Photos】
Out of 144 countries, Japan ranks 142nd in the world for helping strangers
Bitter otaku takes sweet vengeance by dragging hated anime villain behind his car
Hard Rock Cafe opens in Kyoto, features unique exclusive menu items and merchandise
Hayao Miyazaki talks on how working hard isn’t something to be proud of, not forgiving yourself
Testing Japan’s stick-on, mask-your-pooping-sound speakers against our coworker’s butt【Video】
Looking for a hotel in Japan? Skip the ryokan and stay in this castle instead!
The cheapest place to stay in Kyoto cost us just 1,800 yen for the night, and it was awesome
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Sexy Japanese bikini model Waka Inoue snaps back into shape with dramatic before/after video
A visit to the largest Daiso 100 yen shop in all Japan【Photos】- All Japanese customers banned from restaurant…in Japan?!?
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Survey picks “thin” as second-least-attractive body type for Japanese women
Tiny munchkin kitten sleeps like an angel in the cutest position, winning hearts of Instagram
Monthly
We got a haircut at “Japan’s Leading Barber” and walked away feeling like a million bucks
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Mayor of Kyoto drops mic on Kim Kardashian, sends letter explaining what “kimono” really is
Uniqlo reveals first-ever T-shirt collaboration with Your Name anime director Makoto Shinkai- Sexy Japanese bikini model Waka Inoue snaps back into shape with dramatic before/after video
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Mini rice cooker cases: The newest Japanese capsule toys we never knew we needed until just now
Japan’s Shiba Inu 3-D art glasses get an adorable, necessary upgrade in new version【Photos】- Japan’s most-wanted manga pirate arrested in the Philippines, facing deportation
Yearly
How to find a lost cat: Unique method from Japan proves to be surprisingly effective
Uniqlo Pokémon T-shirts coming to Japan this summer, in 24 crazy designs- We got a haircut at “Japan’s Leading Barber” and walked away feeling like a million bucks
New Studio Ghibli exhibition opens in Tokyo, features giant talking Yubaba from Spirited Away
Man jumps off bridge in Osaka to celebrate Heisei era’s end, hits something other than water【Vid】- “They will bounce” promises Final Fantasy director as Tifa joins fighting game cast
Studio Ghibli co-founder and anime director Isao Takahata passes away in Tokyo
Chikan molester runs away from Japanese schoolgirls at train station in Japan【Video】
Chiitan needs your help! Japanese mascot suspended on Twitter after John Oliver feud- Uniqlo announces brand-new line of awesomely beautiful Sailor Moon T-shirts
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Hard Rock Cafe opens in Kyoto, features unique exclusive menu items and merchandise
Hayao Miyazaki talks on how working hard isn’t something to be proud of, not forgiving yourself
Testing Japan’s stick-on, mask-your-pooping-sound speakers against our coworker’s butt【Video】
Looking for a hotel in Japan? Skip the ryokan and stay in this castle instead!
The cheapest place to stay in Kyoto cost us just 1,800 yen for the night, and it was awesome
Flight simulation cockpits installed into Haneda Airport hotel lets you fly your rooms away
Kyoto tea merchant’s matcha parfait ice cream bars: The desserts we’ve been waiting 187 years for
New commercial shows people in Japan offending foreigners with their stinky breath【Video】
Let’s visit Machu Picchu located in the mountains of USA, Japan!
Marshmallow girls unite! Meet Chubbiness, Japan’s latest “chubby” girl idol group!
A visit to Tokyo’s Pokémon Shirts store, and what all 150 original species patterns look like
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