Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival

Near the city of Chitose in Hokkaido is Lake Shikotsu, which is said to have the clearest water in all of Japan. In the town of Shikotsu Kohan, the Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival begins at the end of January and continues on to mid-February. The festival area is made with the water from the lake. The ice sculptures, when bathed in the sunlight, have a color that people refer to as shikotsu blue. The locals use sprinklers with the lake’s water to make all the ice attractions which vary in size and shape. During the day, it’s beautiful to see the color of the water, but at night all the ice sculptures are illuminated in different colors. It gives the feeling of a different place from what you would see during the day time.

Even though the festival is much smaller than the Sapporo Snow Festival, it has attractions unique to Lake Shikotsu. When entering into the festivities you first pass through a tunnel. There you are greeted by the different ice attractions. There is an area where you can go down an ice slide or be surrounded by a giant wall of frozen lake water. Walking around you can enter tunnels of mazes where you can either see frozen pine branches hanging from all over the place, illuminated by a green light to make it look like a moss cave or see salmon encased in ice like an aquarium. There is a children’s ice skating rink where they can use just their shoes to slide around as well as a horse rides for the children. Then at night there is a fireworks show every weekend and holiday for everyone to enjoy. The Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival is free to enter, but the food will cost you money.