[2024 Otaru Attraction] Travel Guide for Otaru Snow Light Path (Updated Dec)

2025 Sapporo Snow Festival Preview | Early Guide from November to February

Hokkaido's winter is filled with numerous winter festival activities, making it a must-visit for travelers to Japan during this season. Today, we bring you a preview of Hokkaido Sapporo's winter events. [⭐Main Events] 1. 2025 Sapporo Snow Festival (75th Edition) This is a must-attend event in Sapporo, featuring various ice and snow sculptures displayed throughout the park. The sculptures are illuminated at night, creating a magical atmosphere. 📆: February 4, 2025 - February 11, 2025 📍: Odori Venue, Odori Park, Tsudome Venue, Tsudome, Susukino Venue, Sapporo Station Front Street 2. 2024 Sapporo White Illumination An annual white illumination festival where every place is adorned with dazzling lights. 📆: Ⅰ: November 22, 2024 - December 25, 2024 Ⅱ: November 22, 2024 - February 11, 2025 Ⅲ: November 22, 2024 - March 14, 2025 📍: Ⅰ: Odori Park Ⅱ: Sapporo Station Front Avenue Ⅲ: South 1st Street 3. 2024 Sapporo Munich Christmas Market Coinciding partially with the White Illumination Festival, this market offers various Christmas-themed goods, food, and drinks. 📆: November 22 - December 25 📍: Odori Park, Satellite Venues 4. Otaru Snow Light Path Every February, a 'Snow Light Path' is illuminated with candles, creating a fairytale-like town. 📆: February 8, 2025 - February 15, 2025 📍: Otaru Canal, Former Temiya Line, Asarigawa Onsen 5. Sapporo Culture and Arts Festival This festival hosts numerous events, including the 'Sapporo Theater Festival' by various groups and some musicals. 📆: November 1, 2024 - November 30, 2024 📍: Sapporo Station Front Avenue Underground Walkway, Sapporo Civic Exchange Plaza, Various Theaters in Sapporo 6. Jozankei Snow Light Path Locals create snow lanterns that line the entire road, offering a romantic and warm atmosphere. 📆: Late January to Late February 2025 📍: Jozankei #WhereToGoOnHoliday #TravelJapan #JapanTravelGuide #HokkaidoJapan #SapporoHokkaido #Sapporo #SapporoSnowFestival #HokkaidoSnowFestival #OtaruSnowLightPath #OdoriPark #HokkaidoSnowFestival

Experience the Magic of Hokkaido's Top Three Winter Festivals

Hokkaido's top three winter festivals, the Sapporo Snow Festival, Otaru Snow Light Path, and Asahikawa Winter Festival, attract over 2 million visitors annually. Why not join your friends and family for a romantic snowy adventure? - **Sapporo Snow Festival**: This festival began in 1950 when local students built six snow sculptures in Odori Park. It has since evolved into a grand event featuring snowball fights and snow sculpture exhibitions, drawing 50,000 attendees in its first year. The Sapporo Snow Festival is not only Japan's most famous winter celebration but also one of the world's top three snow festivals, with 2.73 million visitors in 2019. The main venue at Odori Park showcases over 200 large snow sculptures and international competition entries, illuminated at night for a magical experience. The Susukino site focuses on ice sculptures, with events like ice sculpture lighting and ice bars. Concurrently, the Sapporo White Illumination Festival lights up Odori Park, Ekimae-dori, and Minami 1-jo Dori. Don't miss it! Dates: February 4-11, 2024. - **Otaru Snow Light Path**: Inspired by Japanese author Sei Ito's "Snow Light Path," this festival emphasizes "human interaction." Crafted by Otaru residents, it celebrates its 26th edition in 2024. The main venues are the Otaru Canal and the Temiya Line ruins, where historic streets are bathed in warm yellow snow lights, reminiscent of bygone days. Floating glass lanterns on the canal resemble stars and galaxies in the night sky. As a major event in Otaru, Asarigawa Onsen and various city locations also light up, offering a less crowded experience than the main venues. Dates: February 10-17, 2024. - **Asahikawa Winter Festival**: Tracing back to 1946, under the guidance of sculptor Kiyoshi Kato, Asahikawa's snow-covered roads were transformed into art. Officially starting in 1960, the festival celebrates its 65th edition in 2024, featuring the world's largest snow and ice sculptures, as certified by Guinness. The main venue at Asahibashi offers ice slides, snowmobiles, hot food, concerts, and dance performances. Heiwa-dori Shopping Park, the main street through Asahikawa's center, displays exquisite ice sculptures that sparkle under colorful lights at night. Dates: February 7-12, 2024. #Hokkaido #SapporoSnowFestival #OtaruSnowLightPath #AsahikawaWinterFestival #JapanTravel #HokkaidoTravel #SkiingInJapan

Sapporo goes to JR in Otaru, and the name of the station is very poetic and romantic: piano, hand rice, rice ear, cold, star, star, money, Chaoli, Xiaoyan. But these names are beautiful, and they can't explain the charming appearance of the city's lanterns. Around the winter of February, there will be tens of thousands of candles in the city of Otaru, forming a road of snow lights, illuminating this city full of nostalgic atmosphere, the dreamy atmosphere will be surrounded by people, in which It seems to be a dream of a fairy tale. When I was sorting out the materials, I turned out a travel brochure for the 2009 Otaru. At that time, the winter snow road was already one of the four seasons. The Xiaoyan snow light is more like a sister who responds to the Sapporo Snow Festival. One is the majestic grandeur, and the other is the warm and graceful jade. I can see the winter scenery in these two places in one day, I have to say that I am really lucky. Otaru Canal Hall in February, Snow Country Powder Snow is beautiful, the beautiful Otaru Canal will float a glass float that was once tied to the fishing net, with candles in the float, shining on the water of Otaru Canal Candlelight. This float glass is actually the "floating jade" used in marine lighting in the early small-scale fishery. This glass-filled jade represents the rise and prosperity of Xiaoyan, and it is also closely related to Xiaoyan's whistle workshop. The Japanese like to combine the old objects that can represent their glorious history with the current festivals, which is very similar to China, which is separated by water. In addition to the floating jade on the river, during the snow festival, the canal will be filled with candles on both sides of the canal, echoing the special shape of the snow lanterns. Under the blue sky and clear water, the romantic index of the Xiaoyan Canal reached the peak of the year.