Negotiating the Sapporo snow festival

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Thu, 28 Oct 04

Snow might not be the most obvious thing that springs to mind when you think of Japan, but the land of the rising sun's northernmost island, Hokkaido, is full of it.

Only a short distance from Siberia, temperatures in this remote and relatively unexplored terrain plummet during the winter months, giving rise to inch upon inch of powder-soft white snow.

Hokkaido therefore provides a host of unique opportunities for some winter fun, the most incredible of which is the Sapporo Snow Festival.

Sapporo, the capital city of Hokkaido, is a firm favourite even among the Japanese themselves and during the month of February, thousands of people flock to the ice-city to enjoy the annual snow festival, the largest winter festival of its kind in Japan.

With hundreds of sculptures to work through in addition to a range of light and music shows, the snow festival offers a long weekend of entertainment and is best combined with a trip to Sapporo's ski slopes.

Nevertheless with temperatures in the more adventurous range, and a potentially hectic time on the ski slopes in store, it is advised that those tough enough to brave the snow take adequate Travel Insurance to ensure their "break" alludes only to their fantastic holiday.

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