For the people who have never been to the Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido, Japan, I strongly recommend it.  Along with two of my friends, I made the trip there this past February, and was truly impressed.  Hokkaido, with it's wide roads, spread-cities, and abundance of nature is a stark contrast to the winding concrete jungle of Tokyo, and actually seems more like America than Japan.
　　 I went to Hokkaido with two of my friends, who are also members of my Oregon exchange program to Waseda University, Colin Ono-Moore and Michael Goodman.  The trip was actually initiated by Michael, who had been considering a too spur-of-the-moment trip to Hokkaido back in December of 2003, but reconsidered when I told him about the Snow Festival, and how having extra time to go there might just be a good idea.
　　 Sealing the deal was Colin, who turned out to have friends in Hokkaido.  Colin is a quarter Japanese, though he looks completely Caucasian, and seems to have relatives or friends in nearly every area of Japan.  Thanks to his inquiries we were able to stay with the wonderful Sugiuras for the duration of the trip.  In addition to letting us stay for free, they were also some of the nicest people I have ever met, and were very good to us.  They bought us food, drove us around to interesting places, and spoke very slow and precise Japanese that we could easily understand.  Meeting them was definitely one of the best things about the trip.  Unfortunately I never fully learned all their names; I referred to Mr. and Mrs. Sugiura as "Uncle" and "Auntie."  We spent a good deal of time with their son-in-law Katsumi and their daughter Shiori, but I did not learn their last name…rather embarrassing, and unworthy of their kind treatment.  Shiori and Katsumi had just had a baby a month before we got there, and she was very cute.  The family dog, Max, was somewhat of an issue, as he had a bad disposition and tried to bite us every time we went near him for the first three days until he got used to him.
　　 Getting off the plane from Tokyo, two things immediately crash into your mind.  First, there is a great deal of snow, meters of the stuff, in great piles along the roads, and in vast white plains as far as the eye can see.  The second is that it is cold, perhaps twenty degrees or more than Tokyo, and even the train stations are frigid.  We had to put on extra clothes and wear multiple layers most of the time to keep from going hypothermic, though it was interesting to note that there were still scores of Japanese girls in short skirts, heeled boots, and light jackets.  Made me colder just looking at them.
　　 We met Shiori at the train station, and she took us to the Snow Festival.  There are hundreds of snow sculptures in the long Odori Park, and thousands of people looking at them.  Statues range from "The Lord of the Rings" Gollum holding up a snow ring, to Snoopy laying on his doghouse, to Doraemon and Totoro.  There is something for everyone, though I especially liked the statues cast in the images of large Chinese buildings, European halls, and the Greek Parthenon.  There were also some I thought were a little garish, such as the massively-headed sculpture of Matsui, which was actually a little bit scary if you stared at it long enough.
　　 Our second day there Mr. Sugiura took us to another area, and there we got to slide on massive ice slides and play around with the little plastic sleds that turned out to be remarkably easy to break.  The statues there were much better, and there was a wonderful likeness of the Taj Majal.  There was also a very large Doraemon statue that stood out.  Next we headed to downtown Sapporo, and viewed the scores of ice sculptures set up in the streets.  These were very intricate, and often far more beautiful than their snow counterparts.  I especially liked the ice-rendered phoenix and dragons.  After that we went to meet Mariko, a woman who has turned out to be a very dear friend in Japan, and someone I have gone to several places with.  She has a wonderful sense of humor, a quick laugh, and a truly kind heart.  That evening she joined Colin, Mike, Shiori and I and we went to an area farther north of Sapporo.  There was heavy Russian influence there, and many of the buildings were Russian-style instead of Japanese.  It reminded me of my birthtown, Sitka, Alaska, in the United States, where there are many Russian buildings and historical sites.  The highlights there were a building with amazingly long icicles, and a river with glass balls containing candles floating around.  Two men were paddling around in a boat tending the candles, and it looked very cold.  We could only hope they never fell in!
　　 On our third day, we went skiing at the Kiroro ski area to the north of Sapporo.  Colin, Mike and Katsumi used snowboards, and Mariko and I used skis.  The snow there was amazing, with some of the finest, driest powder I have ever seen.  I was using Mr. Sugiura's racing skis and could not ski in the powder much, but it was glorious.  Colin had a spectacular crash and hurt his back, but it was not bad and it did not keep him down.  We had only four short hours of skiing, but it was a wonderful experience.  After that, we went to an onsen at a hotel near the ski area, and I finally learned why Japanese people like them so much.  Colin, Mike and I vied to see who could stay out in the falling snow the longest, and I won, standing around long after Mike and Colin had jumped back into the tub.  When we got home we picked up Mr. and Mrs. Sugiura and Shiori, and headed out to eat famous Sapporo soup curry.  I had the chicken and garlic curry, which was delicious, though I could not talk toward anyone for the rest of the evening.
　　 Our last full day in Sapporo we went to the famous Ishiya Chocolate Factory, which was handy for souvenirs, but not as impressive as I thought it would be.  The best part of the day was playing hockey on a tiny ice rink on the factory grounds, where the other men and I ran and slipped around for an hour.  When our tour was over, we went to a field next to the factory that had hundreds of miniature snowmen, which people were building in an attempt to break a world record.  We added six snowmen to the tally, but they were still thousands short when we left.
　　 That evening we drove quite a while out of Sapporo to an Ice Festival.  In a small little park people had made structures out of wood, trees, and other materials and then sprayed them with water, turning them into massive ice structures.  Bright, multi-colored lights were then shone on the ice, and with Kitaro music playing it created a weird, otherworldly effect.  The most interesting structure was one made like a cave, with thousands of icicles on the ceilings and walls, and a bright green light turning everything an emerald hue.  On closer inspection of the ice, I found that the structure was made out of pine boughs, and the green of the needles was enhancing the overall green effect.
　　 Then there were the ice slides.  Several large slides had been made, including one that four people or more could go down at once.  Colin, Mike and I played around for quite a while, and were the only adults aside from a few mothers escorting small children.  It was amazing that none of us got hurt, as we often went down together and had several impressive crashes.  As we were leaving, Colin and I got into several wrestling matches, much to the amusement of the Japanese people.  Colin was wearing only tennis shoes, and his feet were all but frozen, but that did not stop him from sliding down several hills on his belly after we were done.
　　 Our last day in Sapporo Mike left early with Mr. Sugiura to go to the airport.  Colin and I had decided to take a ferry home, so we spent the day with Mariko back at the main Snow Festival.  The weather had gotten quite warm, and some of the statues were melting and in poor shape, which was sad to see.  We went to the top of Sapporo's tower and looked over the city, then headed for the train station and Colin and I saw Mariko off.  After that we met one of our Waseda classmates and her boyfriend for two hours, then headed back home for our final dinner with the Sugiuras.  Katsumi drove us down to the port town of Muroran, and Colin and I boarded the ferry around midnight.
　　 The ferry ride was not as interesting as we had thought it would be.  The weather was very hazy, and most of the time we could see nothing but ocean.  Our rooms had nice little berths, and we watched a couple of movies.  Later we talked to some neat elderly Japanese women who were traveling all over Japan, and then we arrived on Honshu.  After a long bus ride, and a surprisingly expensive train ride, we got back to Tokyo late that evening.
　　 I will never forget the kindness of the Sugiuras, and I hope to return to Sapporo for a longer period of time in the future.  It was one of the best trips I have ever taken, and I have been fond of telling people since then that Hokkaido is definitely a place they should make a priority in their trips around Japan.