January 29, 1999 to Januray 31, 1999. The 36th Obihiro Ice Festival. Obihiro, Hokkaido. The "Obihiro Ice Festival", which is held every year in the week prior to the Sapporo Snow Festival, took place from Friday, January 29 to Sunday, January 31. The festival consists of roughly 50 ice carvings by ordinary citizens, large ice and snow sculptures, and an event plaza. It is difficult to gather a large amount of snow so a lot of ice is employed. The slides made of ice are popular with the little ones and the carvings are quite wonderful! This year, the temperature dropped to -20¡î during the festival. A fireworks display, balloon festival, snowboard tournament, and a children's snow fight, were part of the festivities. In the snow fight,because the temperature was -10¡î, the powdered snow made it difficult to create snow balls and adding water created ice balls. The children used colored rubber balls instead. At night, the ice sculptures are lit up and the addition of ice candles makes it so beautiful! Since we have had our child, we enjoy the fireworks display in the deep of the night from the comfort of our car. In the Tokachi region, even the cold is transformed into entertainment and these festivals are held all over. You can also learn about this festival on the Obihiro home page! [Information for Living in the North] http://www.city.obihiro.hokkaido.jp/

	Snow sculptures by ordinary people.The sculptures are created by pressing snow into lumps and coating the surface with water. The most popular out of the 50 creations was the Pokemon monster.		Large snow sculptures.The theme for this year was "Peter Pan". There were huge sculptures of Peter Pan, the pirates, and Captain Hook. On the icy pirate boat, and on either side of the sculpture, are slides and the children form queues.
	The entire site.On the main stage where the large snow sculptures reside, many events take place. If you take a ride on the hot air balloon in back, you can take in the entire site as well as the city of Obihiro.		Ice carvings.The carvings could be considered artworks. The beauty of the sparkling ice swan or Pegasus is worthy of attention.