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Chihayafuru, Love Live!, Macross Delta Among Sculptures at 2016 Sapporo Snow Festival
posted on by Eric Stimson
It's deep in the middle of winter, and in Hokkaido, Japan, that means it's time for the Sapporo Snow Festival, that island's celebration of snow, ice, skiing, skating, and all things winter. It's most famous for its exhibition of snow sculptures, which frequently reference trending pop culture. This year does not disappoint, with several creations celebrating Japan's signature anime.
The upcoming Chihayafuru films were promoted with this sculpture mimicking the movies' poster. It is about 3 meters tall (about 10 feet) and elicited an excited response from Suzu Hirose, who portrays Chihaya. The film will be released in two parts, one on March 19 and the second on April 29.
Other pop culture-related snow sculptures include:
Attack on Titan
Love Live! School idol project
Schoolgirl Strikers (a light novel-styled smartphone RPG)
Snow Miku
World of Tanks
Ken Yasuda (an actor) as one of the Three Wise Monkeys
The festival also displayed a snow sculpture of the upcoming bullet train to Hakodate (on Hokkaido), which will open on March 26. It is lit up by projection-mapping technology.
The Sapporo Snow Festival, which has been held since 1950, brings a substantial windfall to Hokkaido each year. Unfortunately, the snow sculptures sometimes fall as well.
[Via CinemaCafe.net and Hachima Kikō]