Sapporo Snow Festival: Tsudome Site

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale for our month long Sapporo special. On our very first chapter of this special, we will be taking a look at one of the three designated Sapporo Snow Festival sites, the Tsudome site. Located roughly 30 minutes from Sapporo's city center via public transport, the Tsudome site is located the furthest away from Sapporo actual. This distance actually serves an important purpose as the site is catered more towards outdoors snow activities and a family-friendly environment. 

This means, there are many activities to enjoy together with your friends and family with plenty of photo taking opportunities. On top of that, the Tsudome Site also features an indoor and outdoor site. The large outdoor site has plenty of room for visitors whilst being host to fun activities such as the slides, snow rafts and snowball tossing. The most popular activity, without a doubt, was the snow slide which attracted visitors of all age and gender. Long as the line may be, everything moved along at an orderly manner as expected!

The indoor area is contained within Tsudome's large dome-like community center which is located a stone's throw away from the outdoor site. We will be taking a closer look at the indoor site in a bit but, do keep in mind how the building looks like. This is an important bit later on in our journey around the Tsudome site. 

Besides the snow slides, another very popular outdoor attraction was the build-your-own snowman site. Just like the snow slide, this particular spot attracted visitors of all age and genders. To aid the process of making snowmen, the event organizers even included several tools and decorations to make your own snowmen. Fresh snow was simply dug up from the ground with the aid of provided tools such as shovels. 

Meanwhile, decorative items like Lego blocks and bottle caps were included that could be then used to decorate your snowy creation. Keep in mind, those are genuine Lego bricks! 

I certainly felt the use of recycled bottle caps was a very clever touch to serve as both an attractive and eco-friendly decoration. And because of the cold weather that day, well below zero, there was no worry that your creation would melt as the day progressed. 

Then, there were the snow creations of a grander scale. These snow sculptures/statues in particular were community creations. While the professionals were given free reign to hone their craft in the Oodori site, amateur snow sculptors were given their time to shine at the Tsudome site.

These snow sculptures certainly had a look of an amateur's touch to it but, I felt this really served to emphasize the family friendly atmosphere of this particular site. 

All throughout my time in the Tsudome site thus far, the snowfall had begun to pick up as were the number of visitors. You may have also noted the particular weather on that day where the typical heavy winter clouds have blocked out any visual notion of sun rays. Despite all that, the crystalline white snow lit the site up with its blinding reflection. 

Since many of the attractions were actually free, they were offset by a notable sponsor for each major site. In the case of Tsudome's snow slide, it was Nissin who were promoting their new instant Tanuki Udon and Tempura Soba. Certainly a very effective way to promote their new product!

With the snowfall getting heavier, it was an ideal time to build up a snowmen with all the ample fresh snow. It may look simple but, building a snowmen is a lot tougher than it looks! With only prior experience with sand as a building block, I was surprised to find out how much tougher it was for snow to adhere together. Knowing that, I developed a new found respect for all the other snow sculptures in the event!

One snowman later and the snowfall had now begun to become seriously heavy. Remember the Community Center that I mentioned earlier? Now, it was hardly visible despite standing at the same distance as when it was last seen. 

On top of that, the winds were being increasingly faster and stronger meaning, going indoors was a necessity. Fortunately, prior to going indoors, I had completed all the activities (available for adults) by that point. So, it was time to take the reigns and explore the indoor area of the Tsudome Site. 

Just like the outdoor site, the indoor site was largely catered to families with a greater emphasis on children. Evident from the large air castles which filled up a good half of the large indoor area. Besides that, there were also community event booths, souvenir stores and, filling up the second half of the indoor area, food stalls. 

Stopping for a quick bite, I also managed to find some time to purchase some official Snow Miku merchandise which was on sale for this year's Sapporo Snow Festival. Top tip, of you are planning to purchase Snow Festival merchandise/souvenirs, I would strongly recommend you do it when you are at the Tsudome site. Since the prices are essentially the same, you are able to avoid the long lines and crowds in the packed Oodori site.

To get from Sapporo station to the Tsudome Site, one simply has to take a subway to the Sakaemachi station followed by a shuttle bus. Fear not as clear instructions are written in both Japanese and English with volunteer guides all along the way. To return, merely reverse the above steps. Alternatively, there is a more infrequent bus which heads straight back to Sapporo station. With that, we have wrapped up the Tsudome site and it gets our seal of approval regardless of the weather conditions! If you are planning your next trip to the Sapporo Snow Festival, make sure you do not miss out on the chance to visit the family-oriented Tsudome Site.

With that, we come to the end of our coverage of the first of three Snow Festival sites. The next chapter sees us visiting Mandarake Sapporo so, I hope you are looking forward to that. Until then, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!