- February 11th, 2015
- Event
- TouristSpots
- NorthernArea
[Asahikawa Winter Festival] Gigantic Snow Sculpture That Used to Be Placed in The Guinness Book of Records Is Highlight
CONTENTS
Asahikawa Winter Festival
Asahikawa Winter Festival is a snow event held in Asahikawa city, and has been held since 1960. The snow event that about 1 million tourists come to see is one of the 2 major winter festivals in Hokkaido together with Sapporo Snow Festival. Open period is from 4 to 6 days in early February. Asahikawa Winter Festival has 2 venues, Asahibashi Bridge Venue (旭橋河畔会場) and Heiwadori Shopping Park Venue (平和通買物公園会場), and those are different from those atmospheres. As for the Asahibashi Bridge Venue adjacent to Tokiwa Park (常磐公園), it features a gigantic snow sculpture, and World Ice Sculpture Contest (氷彫刻世界大会) is held at the Heiwadori Shopping Park Venue, and fine ice sculptur works are displayed. In the daytime, snow sculptures look only white, but those turn into colourful themselves according to illumination or projection mapping in the evening. By the way, the Asahikawa is too cold in the February, so you had better wear a warm outfit. Especially, you had better wear a warm outfit carefully in the evening.
Movie of Opening Show
Movie of Arranging Main Venue
Mizuno
Mizuno (みづの) is a popular ramen restaurant near Tokiwa park in Asahikawa city, and is a long-established ramen restaurant founded in 1967, and a building has a traditional atmosphere. I visited here around 17:00 on weekdays. There was no customer. Autographed cards are closely stuck on a wall at the ramen restaurant. There are some tables, so family customers seem to enjoy. Read More
High Speed Asahikawa-go (高速あさひかわ号) and Express Nayoro-go (高速なよろ号), express buses, runs between the Asahikawa and the Sapporo, and Taisetsu Liner (たいせつライナー), an express bus, runs between the Asahikawa and the New Chitose Airport, and Sunrise Asahikawa-Kushiro-go (サンライズ旭川・釧路号), an express bus, runs between the Asahikawa and Kushiro, and Limited Express Sekihoku-go (特急石北号), an express bus, runs between the Kitami and Asahikawa, and “North Liner-go (ノースライナー号)”, an express bus, runs between the Asahikawa and Obihiro. Besides, Rent-a-car can be rented around Asahikawa Station and Asahikawa Airport.
ASAHIKAWA
Asahikawa (旭川) that about 340,000 people live is the 2nd largest commercial city in Hokkaido, and has flourished as the center of the North Hokkaido area. Woodworks have been prosperous since the old days, and furniture is famous. Because water is clear, a liquor such as sake of Otokoyama (男山) and Godo Shusei (合同酒精) are famous, too. Popular tourist attractions such as Asahiyama Zoo (旭山動物園) and Biei (美瑛) are around the Asahikawa, so a lot of tourists use tourist bases in the North Hokkaido. As for a climate, the Asahikawa is located in Kamikawa Basin, the largest basin in the Hokkaido, so it is hot that temperature rises to 30 degrees C in a summer, and it is cold that temperature falls to -25 degrees C in a winter, and it snow very hard, too. So a winter festival using the snow is famous. Read More
Winter Festivals in Hokkaido
Snow often begins to fall around Christmas season, and Hokkaido is covered with the snow until late March that snow begins to melt, the ground turns into the white world in a winter. The snow falls in silence, and the temperature falls, too, and its peak is February, and various winter events that snow, ice and coldness can be enjoyed are held all over Hokkaido around the February. Read More
List of Venues
A main venue is the Asahibashi Bridge Venue, and the World Ice Sculpture Contest is held at the Heiwadori Shopping Park Venue.
Asahibashi Bridge Venue
Snow sculptures, activity fields and food stalls are built at the Asahibashi Bridge Venue. The venue is particularly famous for the gigantic snow sculpture, and the snow sculpture of Ultraman Ginga S and Ultraman Victory’s (ウルトラマンギンガストリウムとウルトラマンビクトリー) with 17 m height and 35 m width is a main hero in 2015. A motif of the gigantic snow sculpture is changed every year. A castle of Gulliver, the largest snow sculpture in the world, made in 1987 used to be placed in The Guinness Book of Records. It was geat job. The gigantic snow sculptures have been created by the Self‐Defense Forces, and production period is about a month. Small and medium snow sculptures are made by Asahikawa citizens around the gigantic snow sculpture, and a large snoe slide with 100 m in length, a mini-train, a snow banana, a huge snow maze, tubings can be enjoyed at the venue, too. Admission free. Because a parking lot for a privately-owned car is not provided, visitors can use a free shuttle bus from Asahikawa Station to here.
Atmosphere of Asahikawa Snow Festival in Evening Can Be Watched on Youtube
Movie of Asahikawa Snow Festival in Evening
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Except the snow sculptures and the snow activities, the food stalls called Winter Marche (冬マルシェ) that tasty meals of various places in Hokkaido can be eaten and restrooms are built, too. Fireworks and a video made with projection mapping techniques is shown in the evening, too. The snow sculptures are broken on the next day after finishing the snow festival. A tour seems to be held to see the destruction.
Movie of Snow Sculptures Destroying Performance
Atmosphere of Asahikawa Snow Festival Be Watched on Youtube
Movie of Asahikawa Snow Festival
| Admission fee | Free of charge |
|---|---|
| Parking lot | A parking is not provided |
| Business hours | 09:00-21:00 |
| Regular closing day | From mid February to late January |
| Telephone number | +81-166-25-7168 |
| Home page | Home page is here |
| Mapcode | 79 403 012*00 |
Heiwadori Shopping Park Venue
The World Ice Sculpture Contest is held at the Heiwadori Shopping Park Venue, and ice works are displayed along a shopping street with about 1 km in length. The contest seems to be the only international contest in Japan, and is competed with 2 awards, an individual match and a team game. The production time is fixed within 40 hours, and the entrant vie with each other for the prize in those. Admission free. Because a free parking lot for privately-owned cars is not provided, visitors must park their cars at the paid parking lots.
Atmosphere of World Ice Sculpture Contest Can Be Watched on Youtube
Movie of World Ice Sculpture Contest
| Admission fee | Free of charge |
|---|---|
| Parking lot | A parking is not provided |
| Business hours | 09:00-21:00 |
| Regular closing day | From mid February to late January |
| Telephone number | +81-166-25-7168 |
| Home page | Home page is here |
| Mapcode | 79 343 740*64 |
List of Accommodations
Refer to following websites for the accommodations in the Asahikawa. You can get information regarding online reviews and photos.
A page of Asahikawa is here
Asahikawa
By the way, Club Tourism (クラブツーリズム), a Japanese tour travel agency, provides various types of tours such as day trip tours or ordinary tours. In the case of bus tours, tourists do not drive their cars themselves, so they can savor alcohol. Choosen tourist attractions are national parks such as Rishiri and Rebun, Shiretoko, and popular tourist places such as Furano and Biei, and some activities such as hiking and fruit picking are also enjoyed depending on seasons. If you are interested in tour trips, you should visit the club tourism's website for details.
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