On our last day we were not planning to sit still. We were happy to see the weather had cleared up for our last destination. After our nice breakfast, packing and checking out routine we went to the rope way that should bring us to Mount Moiwa for a nice view of Sapporo. To get there we had to take a rather unusual transportation method for Japan: a tram! It was also a nice way to see a little bit more of the snow covered streets of Sapporo. When we got to our st...

Today, the snow sculpture contestants had been judged and the one we thought best (two kirin, Chinese dragon lions) was number two! Only two? We couldn't find number one actually and had to look it up online. It turned out to be one of the dull ones (a globe with holes in it) but apparently was a favourite of the judges. We had no clue why though. We hadn't anticipated that visiting the yuki matsuri would take so few days but luckily there is plenty to do in Sap...

We had an earlier start today since we wanted to go to the special Snow Hatsune Miku shop that was open for only one day. But we first took a look again at the snow sculptures the contestants had finished since they would be judged today. 'Our' favourite still looked the best to us. Onwards to the Sapporo Factory Hall for Miku. We had visited the location before but then it was still empty. Now however, we were joining the Japanese favourite pass-time: standing ...

This time we were a bit more prepared for the cold weather by using heat pads that you can stick under your socks. Not that they really helped. They become warm when your feet are warm but stay cold when your feet are cold. How is that supposed to help? We went by the Odori again but this time in daylight. Better light but it looks more impressive by night. From there we walked to the Susukino area for the ice sculptures. Most were really big and with much detai...

The weekend before we would go to Sapporo's Snow Festival (the first week of Februari) it was 19 degrees in Tokyo. The next day it was snowing. It doesn't get much weirder weather-wise but at least it 'prepared' us for what was to come, we thought. Boy, were we wrong. The Yuki Matsuri in February is a huge deal for Sapporo. More than two million people come to see it and hotels are full almost as soon as they can be booked. We looked for a flight and hotel aroun...