hey guys I am at the Sapporo Snow Festival today and would you believe
that this festival started with so did you know that Japan's northern island of
Hokkaido has only been inhabited (by modern Japanese people)
for about a hundred and fifty years? that
that is so new and it comes along with it some pretty cool advantages and how
they do City planning and everything like that will touch on that a little
later for now it is my third day will be morning of my third day in Hokkaido
right now I'm in Sapporo but getting here was an adventure all of its own
let's see if I can't summarize it in about two minutes alright here we go
so I was in Milan (Italy) with two shamisen players and I got an email asking me if
I wanted to go to Hokkaido... yes. so instead of going home I came directly to
Hokkaido. Well, not really directly. there were four flights and five airports
involved who's counting. we landed at night in Asakawa. there was snow. lots of snow the
next day we went to a cool design center the area of Asahikawa itself is
known for producing incredible furniture we have food and we got to visit some of
the furniture makers than themselves and when night time hit we went to the
Asahikawa Winter Festival it was brief it was cold it was beautiful but at night I
braved the cold and went out for a little bit and it was so worth it
it's just around midnight right now it's currently about minus 12 degrees (Celcius) so it's
not all that bad but magic is happening right behind me
for the record I kind of wanted to say it a little bit later and film more for
you guys but my camera is starting to freeze up the lens more than anything
but she's not doing good this giant truck filled with snow
reminds me before I head into the hotel there's something I want to show you and
that's these poles right here which let cars and snowplows and everything know
where the edge of the road is they're everywhere in areas that don't have
these poles have arrows hanging from above because the poles wouldn't be tall
enough because they get that much snow in this area all right that's all for
now I'm really gonna head back into the hotel look at how white my hair is
turned.
alright I think from this point we can slow down a little bit so the
next day we headed into an area called Otaru and we're pretty much instantly
graced with the beauty of snow
these little ledges that have created are to reduce the risk of like I guess
not landslides with snow slides down the side of it like hill or mountain that
tells you how much snow they in here know it's nor like no no we know this
guy we see his videos at Tuesday thank you guys so much for coming up.
Otaru was beautiful I cannot wait to go back there someday but that pretty
much brings us to last night when I arrived here at this hotel
this hotel isnt too bad either
Got a mountain view!
Look at that that sunset over the mountains there
I feel like this warrents some kind of time-lapse
I'm on my way to the snow festival right now
Sapporo itself is just so beautiful right now look at this
before we actually get to the festival a little bit of context this entire
festival actually started with kids. as the story goes it looks like the goal
was to turn the snow into something more than just a cold bother and so they
started this annual tradition of building snow castles and stuff like
that and over the years it gained so much attention that it became the
Sapporo Snow Festival that it is today something I wanted to tell you guys
about right now so interesting fact from the station all the way to the main park
Odori Park is connected by an underground set of tunnels I never knew
that I've never been in them and I kind of want to check them out
considering how cold Sapporo gets it makes sense there's an underground
walkway for like the most popular area and it also makes sense that it is
insanely crowded
all the exits seemed clearly numbered and to be honest with you guys I want to
enjoy Sapporo so I'm gonna go back up. I just kind of wanted to show you guys
the area. you'll notice that Sapporo also has these poles the station is back
there has been like 14 years since I've seen it and the last time didn't go so
well and I've actually always wanted to come back and see this snow festival so
I'm literally over-the-top excited I'm just trying to keep the energy down
right now
so as much as all I want to do is hang around and gather two gorgeous b-roll of
this snow festival there's one thing that I've always wanted to do so let's
go this way
the very first time I came here by the time I discovered this place it was too
late this time I got here just in time
something special about today I hear that just during the snow vessel they
open up the staircase so we can go down by this stair coming this far
the cold I can deal with it's the ice on the stairs that's kind of freaking me
out anyway I don't think ten minute montage of me going down the stairs is
gonna be the most except the elevators neat though, I love seeing.. Hi Guys!
I'm just gonna hurry down and I'll see you guys when I get down there that was
totally worth it now I'm really excited to go check out the Snow Festival itself
in the last video where I showed my footage from sapporo from 14 years ago i
believe i described sapporo as being a different kind of amazing and i think
that holds true the only sad thing is that every single day until today it's
been snowing and it's not snowing at the snow festival do you see this behind me
it's like a wish it's like a wish come true it started snowing started snowing
yeah
it got really bad there for a while but things are seemingly calming down a bit
it is a snow festival after all... and I asked for the snow and as you get down
to the end of the park that's where they're working on the smaller statues
but just because they're smaller doesn't mean they skimp on detail by any means
and my hands may be reaching their limit ended up buying gloved it seemed like
the smart choice
Combini Time
what a day that was there's a lot of fun I never thought that when I publish that
video of my first visit the Sapporo that I would be there two weeks later
and finally Sapporo Beer! let's see if this is even any good
smells like beer...