Snow festival

The snow festival is in full swing.  We went by it in the late afternoon to see what is going on.  Today was a very warm day with temperatures above 4 C.  Some of the snow was starting to melt.  This also meant the Micheal's wheelchair would sink into the snow easily so we all took turns pushing it.

We started out by the Maypole looking at the international carving competition.  The carvers come from around the world to compete in a three day carving extravaganza.  Each group had a sign in front of their station stating where they are from in Japanese and English.  They also had a model or a sketch of their final carving so you can see what they are working on.

The first group here is from Russia.

The second group is from Korea.  Their model has been painted gray and is on the ground to the right of their sign.  Just click on the image to see a larger version.

Here is the Thai team.

The Singapore sculpture was so abstract I couldn't tell much about it.

Malaysia's sculpture is two sea turtles in a giant hand.  There is a second photo of Malaysia's sculpture below.

Here is Portland's (in Oregon) entry.  This sculpture is in the early stages.  You can see how they use spray-paint to roughly mark out where to carve the snow.

Chile's model is sitting on the green bucket.  It is two halves of a sphere separated slightly from each other.

There were other international carving competition sculptures, but I didn't photograph them this time.  Maybe I will go back when they are complete to see them all again.  There are many other sculptures that were smaller (relative to the giant sculptures) around Odori Park.  Below are some of my favorites.

It is Totoro!

I name this one penguin cake.

This is one of the larger sculptures.  To give you a sense of the size just compare them to the people standing on the sculpture.  They seemed to be filming a TV broadcast while we were there.

The snow festival is very popular, with an estimated 2 million visitors annually.  There always crowds like this everywhere we went.

I love this advertisement, Boil Japan with Yoda.  Michael and Brigid loved it too!  It is supposed to be selling cup noodle instant noodles.

This guy is riding on the front of the electric train complete with fake smoke.  Behind him are many kids and parents.  They are going into the tunnel that the boil Japan sign is attached to.

Bre was excited to see these characters.  They are famous cartoon characters from Russia.  The guy with big ears is Cheburashka and his crocodile friend is Gena.

There were lots of anime sculptures.

Here is another photo of the Lone Sailor that we saw in the last posting while he was sill being carved.

Here is the earlier stage of the Lone Sailor for comparison.

I swear I didn't photoshop this image.  It came exactly this way.  There really is a bright colored paper flower in the middle of the sculpture.

Here is another view of the castle.  It is the Aizu Tsuruga Castle.  This sculpture was built by both the Japanese Defense Force and a TV station.  You can seem more about it here and here.

Here is one of the two Sawa-san sculptures of the women's soccer star Homare Sawa.

By the time we got to the ice sculptures the sun had set and they were lit by many man-made lights.  They were able to change the colors on the sculptures from violet to blue to orange to yellow and even green.  It was fun to watch.

Here is a view of the lights they use to light the sculptures.

This was one of the large sculptures.  The animals in the back of the sculpture looked like they could be life-sized.  The ones in the front are definitely over-sized but they give a fun sense of perspective.

Here is the same sea-life sculpture from further back with just white lighting.

Here is a group photo with Michael, Brigid, and Bre.  I am very impressed that my camera was able to take this photo at night without a flash.

Here is the second Sawa-san sculpture.  It is really good.

Her hair looks very natural on the frame.

 

For your convenience I have reposted my earlier photos of this Sawa sculpture below.

That's all for now.

-Kyle (and Bre)

Snow festival preperations

We went by the snow festival yesterday.  The snow sculptures are coming along well.  It was fun to see them in the process of being formed.

There were several whiteboards situated around Odori Park where visitors can write messages about the snow festival.

This sculpture is the magicians apprentice.  Not surprisingly, it is sponsored by Disney World Tokyo.  The large stars were glued onto the sculpture after being carved elsewhere. 

Here is a closeup of the face of one of the snow sculptures.  This sculpture is of Homare Sawa, captain of the Japanese Women's Soccer team which won the World Cup.

In this photo you can see how she is going to have hair extensions built (I assume out of snow) over the frame on the back of her head.

Here is Bre and Jody in front of an ice sculpture that I think is of the National Palace Museum of Taiwan.  I like the way the snow looks sitting on the ice.

They have models and drawings of the palace for viewing next to the sculpture.

Here is an important building for the coming crowds.

Next to the lost child center we found these two sculptures.  They are both named Ken, one is a boy and the other a girl.

In this photo you can see the two Kens on a sign.  I don't know what they are about, but it seems to be important.  If any of my readers can help me out and let me know I will update the blog with the correct info.

Here is a sculpture in a rough phase.  You can see a drawing of the sculpture nailed on the edge of the sculpture.

Here you can see some of the tools used in forming the sculptures.  The wooden pole to the left of the handsaw looks like an ice scraper at the bottom, similar to what you might use to scrape ice from your car windshield.

We came across this group of sculptors working on one of the community sculptures.  They used spray paint to mark where they wanted to carve.  They also had a TV camera following their exploits.  The community sculptures are awarded to local community groups for carving by applying through a lottery system.

This is one of the sculptures being built by the Japanese Defense Force.  We really liked the stone texture at the bottom of the sculpture.

I liked this little guy.

This sculpture was being built by a US Navy group.  It is the head of the Lone Sailor, a statue at the United States Navy Memorial.  We had a good time chatting with the Navy sculptors and learned that two of them are also from Seattle. 

The blocks of snow down by the Maypole are the location of the international snow carving competition that begins in a few days.

I took the last photos on the walk home near sunset.

That's all for now,

-Kyle (and Bre)