Winter Blunderland

"A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water." - Carl Reiner

Enter the Igloo

Japanese is rich in festivals. While, they are often smaller in scale than fairs and carnivals in the states, the Japanese are professional festival goers. Therefore, you can't fault the festival organizers for not reeling in has-been celebrities or plotting a garden of spin and puke rides. These festivals are more about people coming together in harmony.

Organized Tubing

Personally, I like to put off outdoor harmony until spring. But when your city receives enough snow to bury a giraffe, you have enough courage to face Mother Nature head on.

Every festival has a party pooper.

Welcome to this year's Gappo Snow Fest, an annual weekend festival held in January in Aomori City's seaside Gappo Park. The main objective was festival food: candied strawberries, chocolate covered bananas, yakisoba (fried noodles), takoyaki (octopus balls), and karage (fried chicken). Sadly, the food tents were scarce, and the quality decided to stay indoors.

Sold Out Performance

There wasn't much to do per say, but I suppose I'm turning Japanese as I found the atmosphere enjoyable enough. There was a snow tube slide, igloo, and even a shamisen performance. The strangest sight was groups of people throwing around taped up brown bags of ice. Overall, the snow fest didn't stimulate all of the senses as it's more intended for the youngsters, but like all Japanese festivals, it's worth the trek. Just leave your expectations at home, and feast on the fun of people.



Questionable Quality