60th Sapporo Snow Festival
On the fifth day, we visited a fish market in the morning and then spend the whole evening touring event sites for the 60th Sapporo Snow Festival.
The market offers an array of fresh seafood products as well as processed products. We also popped by a fruits and vegetable market where we had a quick bento breakfast.
The JR train we took to commute around
You are not allow to use your mobile phone in the trains
Giant crows - they are at least twice the size of their Singapore cousins
Crows, waiting for food
At the fish market street
Heavy snow
Posing outside one of the seafood stores
A more kawaii crab decor outside another seafood store
Giant lobster
Mark wants to eat up all of them
Big fish
Live crabs on sale
Closer look at the crabs
Another kind of live crab
Live abalone
Salmon head
Crab box set!
Fresh Japanese king crab
Fresh prawns with lots of roes
Some rich person just bought a live Japanese king crab
Live hairy crabs - ripped open
All kinds of seafood
Sampling is allowed - silly Rachel thought these preserved seaweed are caviar
More food for us to sample
Rachel enjoying a single slice of Japanese muskmelon
Me enjoying the same slice of muskmelon
Bear and walrus meat! Mark wanted to buy them and try, but Meiyen stopped him.
A famous Hokkaido mascot - Marimokkori who has a constant erection
Marimokkori who has a perpetual erection - even in an onsen
Marimokkori's dick will protrude, no matter what he wears
Our tidbits sweep
Bear beverage - the Hokkaido version shows a polar bear instead of the usual brown bear
Blocks of ice laid on the pavement of the fish market street
wet market
At the fruits and vegetable market
Gigantic cabbages and carrots
Green pumpkins
Seaweed tea which Rachel bought for her dad
Mark the onion seller
The broccoli in Japan looks large and beautiful
The market sells soft-toys too - Mark bought the Kiwi-man
Rambutans are expensive in Japan and are sold in singular
Katsu-don for breakfast
Teriyaki chicken don
Thereafter, we went to look at a snow sculpturing competition and made snowmen, part of the programs for the Sapporo Snow Festival. Rachel had a lot of fun making snowmen. In fact, while all of us made one snowman each, Rachel made a second one to replace her first one as she was not satisfied with it’s appearance. As all these activities were outdoor, we were all freezing ourselves to death and did not stay there for too long. The cold damaged Rachel’s head and she kept pestering me with silly questions like whether it was possible to “make the snowmen come alive”.
Collection of snowmen made by visitors
Aloha!
An interesting mirror installation
Counter to loan wares for making snowmen (free!)
The four of us with our snowmen-making wares
Kids making snowmen
More kids playing in the snow
Adults making snowmen
Forming the bodies of the snowmen
The first two snowmen Rachel and I made
Rachel and I showing off our snowmen
Mark, Meiyen, Rachel and I showing off our snowmen
The resting place we chose for our snowmen
Helpful ojisan who taught us how to make proper snowmen
Tagged with our personalised name plates
Meiyen and Mark's snowmen
Snowmen gathering
Snow sculpturing contestants slugging it out on their assigned block of snow
Shaping the mouth
Carving Japanese characters
Another group at work
Leaning pigs
Giant Ponyo
Rachel with Wall-E
Rachel and I with a giant snowman plus a few snow-babies
Sculpture promoting friendship
Rachel with a chibi character
A kawaii character
Trying out the snow slides next - you can see them from behind
Playing with the snow slides
Wheeeeeee!
We had pipping hot Hokkaido soup curry for lunch. This was one of the best meal we had in Japan. The restaurant is called Soup Curry Rasata – click here to visit their official website. You get to choose the degree of hotness for your soup curry, going from one to ten chilli. Mark took the nine chilli option, I chose three, Meiyen chose five and Rachel chose zero. In the end, we figured the average Singaporean can probably take the seven chilli option, being more accustomed to spicy food than the Japanese. All four of us were extremely hungry from the coldness in the morning and promptly emptied all our bowls in double quick time.
Outside the soup curry place where three soup curry restaurants are located
Outside Rasata - the soup curry restaurant we chose to dine at
Fooling around with our soup curry
Mark's soup curry with crispy chicken thigh
My soup curry, served with cheese-baked chicken
Rachel's spiceless soup curry - for cowards who cant take spicy food
Beneath a TV tower in the day
Film negatives that Rachel bought for her sister
Outside a food court in a shopping mall
Retro movie poster
Fake vintage advertisement
Toot toot! All on board!
Fake antique watch shop
Fake antique barber
Delicious red bean pancake
Read bean paste
The popular red bean cake stall with a constant queue
We found this at a gift shop - Sapporo draft beer candies!
Gums and hi-chew candies we bought
Rachel buying her first Hokkaido soft-serve
Very delighted with the soft-serve which tasted rich and creamy
Close-up of the soft-serve
Promotional material for the sequel of 20th Century Boy
Be warned
Outside the Asahi Newspaper office
Rachel and I, beneath a TV tower
Inverse-coloured panda - a popular soft toy
Roadside stall selling salted fish
A decorative structure
At the ice skating rink
A popular comedian duo in Japan who had a giant snow sculpture made for them
The rugby ball villian in Super Mario
Rachel with Snoopy
Grand-looking snow shrine
Piyo Piyo
The bizarre adventure of Jojo
Cute-looking bear with a heart
Anpan-man
Alaska Menthol - a new cigarette brand launched by Salem in conjunction with the Sapporo Snow Festival
Keroro!
Impressive Disney sculpture
Mickey and Minnie
Onsen bear
Totoro, Rachel and I
Ponyo again!
Luminous snow sculpture that keeps changing colour
Japanese newscaster reporting on-site
Smaller snow sculptures like these were all over and lined the paths
Poor freezing statue - look at the heavy snow!
Baseball team mascot
The Nissin chicken
Another Nissin birdie
Coca-cola
Freaky looking melon heads
A random snow sculpture - I dont know who this guy is
Sorry-looking snow sculpture - probably disintegrating already
Meiyen and Mark, posing with a cute looking tiny snow sculpture
Sorry-looking snow dolphin
Giant owl and eagle with their babies
Sculpture to promote Tokyos candidacy for the 2016 Olympics
A pair of kissing fish
Kungfu Panda
Mcdonalds mascot in Japan
A famous Korean landmark, made into a snow sculpture
The Korean section, selling Korean food and ornaments
Barbequed scallops
Chance upon this poster - Singaporeans wont appreciate this for sure
street food vendors
Giant ad poster - Go this way!
The International Zone which was still under construction
Work-in-progress
An excavator has to be used to dig up the snow
The team from Finland
Wooden stickes are used to keep the snow sculptures in shape
Thai and Turkish food stall
Korean and Chinese food stall
Russian food stall
Nikka Bar
Flying crane
Although we were already very tired at this point, the four of us still dragged our feet to the shopping belt where we were at the previous night to check out the lighted ice sculptures. Although smaller in sizes, they were equally fascinating for us, having come from a 24-7 sweltering hot, tropical country where we only get to see snow when we travel abroad.
Tired trio
Lots of people gawking at the ice sculptures
An illuminated ice sculpture
Exquisite crane sculpture
Woman on a flying horse
Beef noodle
A fisherman who got lucky
A frog with his girlfriend
Rachel in front of the Green Peace ice sculpture
Goldfish sculpture
A pair of goldfish
Sculpture sponsored by a milk company
Suntory Whisky counter made from ice
Marimokkori and his girlfriend
A mermaid
Got milk?
Swordfish
Fantasy creatures
A dragon
Bra lady who sells seafood?
Rachel is happy we finally walked till the end of the street
Carving an eagle
Work-in-progress ice sculpture
Posing with someone in a neko suit who happened to walk pass us
We had a sumptious dinner that night at the ramen street which we recce the previous night. We chose the restaurant that had the longest queue. It was a very small restaurant with only counter seats and can only accommodate six customers at any one time. We decided to split into groups of two so we can go in faster instead of waiting for a vacant row of four seats.Being the gentlemen we were, Mark and I let the ladies dine first. The ingrates took photos of us from the inside and slurped up their noodle while eyeing our pitiful, hungry expressions. When Mark and I got in, we devoured our ramen as if we haven’t eaten for weeks.
Octopachi
We bought the octopachi from this store
The ojisan who makes the octopachi looks very experienced and spotted a cool goatee
Close-up of the stylo-goatee ojisan
This restaurant serves mouth-watering ramen
Rachel and Meiyen's pipping hot ramens
Mark and I peeking in from outside... lusting for Meiyen and Rachel's ramens
The ramen chef
Free eggs for all customers - Mark ate three
Oishi! Mark's miso ramen with extra char siew!
My miso ramen
Snowball puddings we bought for supper
This was the longest and most tiring day throughout our entire Japan trip as we did the most walking on this day. In fact, my feet developed blisters that night and it continued to hurt for the rest of our trip. Then again, the experience of the 60th Sapporo Snow Festival was definitely worth it. 
Watch out for my next entry on my sixth day in Japan – we will be leaving Hokkaido and heading to Yokohama and Tokyo. 
Meanwhile, you can read my previous entries if you haven’t already:
Day 1 – Kansai Airport, Hokkaido
Day 3 – Asahikawa, Asahiyama Zoo
Day 4 – Sledding, Shiroi Koibito, Crab Buffet
Day 5 – The 60th Sapporo Snow Festival
Day 6 – Staying with the Asai, Shōnan
Day 8 – Shibuya and Akihabara, Tokyo
Day 12 – Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan and Dotonbori
Day 13 – Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge and Mt. Rokko
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gosh, the Dons looks so good! and the Char Siew, is really big serviing, unlike Singapore, give small pieces.
do you have to speak japanese there?
My friend can speak Japanese. It helps a lot.
Wow! That was some holiday in Hokkaido, and it really brings back fond memories for me. Hokkaido is one of the best destinations for a holiday – the snow and ice, seafood, music boxes, onsen, and barbequed meats! Plus of course lots of Sapporo beer to wash them down….
Hi Walter, how’s things going for your life as a student again now?
I love Hokkaido too! It was the best part of my Japan trip.
just dropping by to say how lovely you wrote about Japan, so much so that it’s really firing up my desire to be in Japan one day!
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wow its really eye catching l wish one day l can go to….zzzzz
infact l have friends in japan but l dont i 2 trouble them..but after watching your trip it makes me 1 2 take e courage to trouble them liau hahaha…cool l like it very very very much.
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680o yen FOR ONE MELON OMG…..
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