Welcome to Sapporo!

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale for our very special month long coverage of the Sapporo Snow Festival. For those of you who have kept in touch with our Twitter feed, would know that I recently had a short but sweet trip to Sapporo. While it may be my third visit to the Northern Peninsular of Japan, this would be my very first time attending the much talked about Sapporo Snow Festival which takes place during the first week of February every year. The event is spaced out over three unique venues and attracts visitors from not just Japan but, all over the world too. As a bonus to anime fans all over the world, Snow Miku also plays a big part of the festival as its official mascot too!

Landing early in the morning in Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport, I was immediately off to a rough start as the first trains out of the airport (to the city) were delayed by almost 2 hours! Fortunately, despite the crowd, everyone maintained an orderly line while the rail staff did their best to keep order whilst continuously updating passengers on the status of the rails. Thankfully, the delays were not caused by weather as the last time I was here, I narrowly missed out getting snowed in into the airport due to a blizzard.

With Mami-ca at the ready, I was always prepared for any scenario where public transportation is concerned in Japan. An important traveler's tip, make sure you get an IC card as soon as possible as this would be your best means of getting around with public transport in Japan. The prepaid cards works for virtually any form of public transport and its usage reach has expanded even further to now include vending machines and convenience stores. As an added bonus, otakus can even brandish their IC cards with a cover of their favorite characters! Another bonus tip, for repeat travelers, do remember to top up your card before leaving the country. This way, you will not have to rush to top it up upon arrival in the event that you have to catch a train or bus. 

Of course, our central highlight of this month's special would be the aforementioned Sapporo Snow Festival. This year is a particularly special one as it will be the 70th Anniversary of the festival, a fact that I was only made aware of upon arrival. 

Because of the sheer breadth of coverage on offer, we will be splitting our coverage to each individual site. Starting with the family oriented Tsudome Site which focused more on fun family activities such as snow slides and snow float rides. It even included an indoor display area!

Winter may at its tail end but, snowfall was still very heavy throughout my time in Sapporo. This was historically expected together with temperatures during the daytime going well below 0 degrees Celsius. Talk about a temperature shock having come from a climate country!

Together with the freezing temperatures, another hallmark of winter would be the early sunset which would see the sun go down as early as 4:30 pm. Knowing that, it was always a battle against the clock to make the most out of however much sunlight was available. Not that I got to see much of the sun either with the entire day skies covered in heavy clouds. Certainly an experience unlike any other that I have experienced prior to this. 

Of course, Hokkaido is also known for its whole host of wonderful dishes and delights! The cold temperature meant I was always hungry for the next meal and for visitors to Hokkaido, the food is almost always one of its main highlights.We are an anime blog though so, I promise to keep the gluttony to a minimum. 

And yes, before I forget, we are an anime blog. Which means, no trip no matter how short would not be complete without a visit to one of the city's main hobby stores, Mandarake Sapporo. Personally one of my favorite hobby stores (even among other Mandarake outlets), Mandarake's Sapporo branch continues to get my love with this recent visit. We also take a look at the other hobby stores in Sapporo trying my very best to fit them in with the limited schedule I had on hand. 

Lastly, we have Snow Miku. A lot, a lot of Snow Miku throughout the entirety of Sapporo. More than just the mascot of the Snow Festival, Snow Miku encompasses something much larger as the mascot of Sapporo. Way to go Sapporo! If only others cities/towns in Japan would adopt anime characters as their mascots too! Anyway, that is all for this quick preview of the coming articles over the next month. We hope you look forward to them. Until the next time, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!