Sapporo Snow Festival – Part 3: Tsudome and Susukino

My last snow festival report takes you to some of the smaller venues at the Sapporo Snow Festival – Tsudome and Susukino.

Tsudome Venue

Tsudome is an arena located in the north east  of Sapporo. It can be used for softball, tennis, soccer and track field training and games as well as exhibiting events.

Snow festival visitors travel by subway or special buses to get there from Odori Park. Even it only takes ten minutes on foot from the nearest subway station, Sakaemachi on the Toho Line (Blue Line), shuttle buses ran between the subway station and the venue. Families with young kids tend to catch short-distance buses.

The Tsudome venue is family friendly, but popular among not only families with children but also foreign tourists.

Once entering the venue, your eyes would be attracted by big snow sculptures where kids enjoyed snow sliding. I was not able to find any photo of a children’s favour sculpture. Sorry! But you would imagine what it was like from the similar one displayed at Odori Park.

Beyond big sculptures, small sculptures made by high school groups and other local groups were other attractive ones. High school students worked hard to get a prize at a competition. Also there were snow mazes.

 

A maze created from snow. (pic: Yoshi Imagawa)

A maze created from snow. (pic: Yoshi Imagawa)

 

Outside was not only the site. In the arena, visitors can get food from stalls provided nice local restaurants and see exhibitions. Also a temporary amusement park was located where kids had fun.

 

Pikachu, the character of Japanese anime, Pokemon. (pic: Yoshi Imagawa)

Pikachu, the character of Japanese anime, Pokemon. (pic: Yoshi Imagawa)

 

 

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Temporary Amusement Park. (pic Yoshi Imagawa)

 

 

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Susukino Ice Festival

Night is the time when Susukino shines all the time. Susukino is the south end of Downtown Sapporo and has heaps of bars. Susukino is kind of Sapporo’s Kings Cross.

Ice sculptures in Susukino shine at night, indeed. I would advise tourists to visit there at night.

Displayed sculptures included fish tanks, bottles of alcohol beverages, fairy tales, shrines and a mascot of a local football (soccer) team.

 

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Cheers with Sapporo Beer! (pic: Yoshi Imagawa)

 

 

 

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Fish Tank ice sculpture. (pic: Yoshi Imagawa)

 

 

 

An icy bar was located in the middle of the venue and attractive for us. We had warm sake over there and then went to a ramen restaurant to get warm.

Sususkino is a walking distance from Odori Park and the central railway station (Sapporo Station). Hitting a pub after seeing the festival would bring you a great night in Sapporo.

About Yoshihiro Imagawa

Love, passion and pride are seen on the footy that is the biggest part of my life. 1. St Kilda Club member: I am a passionate and crazy Sainter. Just hope we will win the second flag soon, especially after Dogs and Tigers having ended long premiership draughts. 2. The Osaka Dingoes Player and Public Relations Officer: Player number 44 that I chose to honour Stephen Milne with my wish being like a small forward like him. Lenny Hayes' hardworking attitudes are adopted on my trainings and practices. Nick Riewoldt's great plays are in my player audiobook too. 3. Writing: Here on the Almanac and also on the World Footy News. My skills utilise on great footy websites.

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