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Snow and Ice festivals are popular in Hokkaido, Japan. In Hakodate, the annual Snow and Ice Festival is held at Onuma Quasi National Park, around 20 minutes away from Hakodate Station by JR. Onuma Quasi National Park is a nice sub-urban park that offers beautiful scenery year round. There’s a weekend winter festival held every year for families. There are snow sliders, go-karts, snow mobile, as well as mobile food stalls by the park entrance. The event was held on 4th and 5th of February, 2017. If you are interested in checking in out, plan a trip early next time. It’s fun for families with small children. Address of Onuma Quasi-National Park: 85-15 Onuma-cho, Nanae-cho, Kameda-gun, Hokkaido, Japan Transportation: Take JR to Onuma Koen Station, then walk 5 minutes.

Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Jozankei Onsen, the 2017 snow light path is held at Jozankei Shrine from February 1 to 5. Many candle are lite up from the main gate all the way up to the shrine, creating a warm and romantic feeling in a cold winter. The event begins at 6pm till 9pm. All candles are lite up manually so if you get there early, you may even help out in lighting up the candles. Transportation to Jozankei Shrine: There is a bus no. 7 and 8 that goes from Sapporo Station to Jozankei. Simply get off at Jozankei Shrine. It takes about 1 hour depending on the traffic and road condition.

The UNESCO World Heritage Shirakawa-go is one of the most beautiful winter wonderland in Japan. It is one of the snowiest place in Japan hence the creation of traditional farm houses (Gassho-zukuri) that feature steep roofs that look like palms together. Every winter, 6 days in January and February are selected as the special winter illumination dates, attracting lots of tourists from all over the world. There were thousands of tourists visited Shirakawa-go in 2016. It was very packed! If you do not manage to stay in Shirakawa-go, here’s a travel plan for staying in Takayama and visit Shirakawa-go on a day trip. Takayama city is a nice small city with a charming old town, Takayama Jinya, many museums and a Hida Folk Village where you can see a good collection of gassho-styled farm houses. Transportation: Nohi bus runs regularly between Takayama station and Shirakawa-go. Special chartered buses are available during the winter illumination. Bus tickets are sold 1 month before the illumination date and reservation can only be made by phone this year. Please check the website link.

The largest Snow Festival in Japan: the Sapporo Snow Festival attracts millions of visitors every year and this number is on the rise every year. There were definitely a lot more visitors this year than the previous two times I visited before. The walking paths are wider but there was only one direction of traffic flow. I also noticed that there were fewer snow sculptures and more food and drink kiosks. And there were more laser shows on the snow statues.

Held from February 6 to 11, the opening of 2016 Asahikawa Winter Festival is an excellent event with remarkable fireworks and laser shows that last around 20 minutes in the opening and finale. On February 6, I travelled over 5 hours from Hakodate to Asahikawa on train. The train was on time and it was sunny when I arrived. That was a good start. Asahikawa can get very cold and windy but it was not. Not on that day. I was lucky. The park was beautiful in the winter with picturesque snow scenery just like the last time I visited. Just follow the sign and the snowmen along the path will lead you to the snow festival. You may also take a shuttle bus from the JR station but it goes every 20 minutes and there may be a long line. The gigantic stage was a pair of snow bears, the mascots. It was much more crowded than the last time I visited but not nearly as crowded as other winter festivals which are more popular among tourists. It was still easy to…

Walking around snow sculptures, taking pictures, watching laser shows and performances are not enough to keep your children busy? Want a short trip for your children to play with snow and on snow in Sapporo? Tsudome Site is a great choice. Located just 35 minutes away from Sapporo JR station by bus, Tsudome Site is designed for families with children. There are more games and activities both indoor and outdoor this year.  It is the only snow festival venue with a large indoor venue, and has the largest number of sliders in different heights and lengths for children of all ages. It’s a fun place where your children will have a great time playing snow. From Feb 5 to 18, there are a few days to go. Enjoy it while you are in Sapporo!

From 29 January to 21 February 2016, Lake Shikotsu is turned into a winter wonderland with ice sculptures made by spraying fresh water from the lake. If you want to experience a variety of Hokkaido ice festival without having to travel far from Sapporo, this festival is a good option.

Fish market is indeed a not-to-be-missed destination for most travellers in Japan. If you are travelling in Kanazawa, Japan. The Omi-cho market is a good one to check out. It is very accessible. Only a couple of stops away from Kanazawa Station by the loop buses.

Looking like a gorgeous Chinese landscape painting, Jozankei is a beautiful hot spring area in Hokkaido. The history of Jozankei onsen (hot spring) dates back to 1866 when a monk discovered this beautiful place and built a healing onsen. One of the main reasons why it is so popular is because of its proximity to Sapporo. It takes less than an hour by car and there are a few buses that run frequently between Sapporo and Jozankei. Hot spring gushing out in the Jyozankei spa resort areas contains sodium chloride featuring transparency and mild amount of salt. It is one of the most common spring types in Japan. There are 56 sources of hot spring in the Jyozankei onsen district. Most of them are in the vicinity of Tsukimibashi bridge and Takayamabasi bridge of the Toyohira river running the hot sprint area. Hot spring is abundantly gushing out from crannies of bedrocks in the riverbank and in the bottom of the river.

If you want to go for a day-trip Onsen (hot spring) from Sapporo, Noboribetsu is one of the possible location with a variety of hot springs with healing effects. You may drive, take a bus or train from Sapporo to Noboribetsu. In the winter, I would prefer the JR train which will be less likely to be interrupted by bad weather condition such as snow storms. It is comfortable and safe. It takes about 100 minutes from Sapporo to  Noboribetsu JR station. Then a 15 minute bus to the onsen street. The Jigokudani (Hell Valley) is a not-to-be-missed attraction which is only 20 minutes away from the onsen street. On the way up to the Hell Valley, two giant onsen demons in red and blue color holding spiked bats will be waiting for you by the roadside. These hot spring demons are built for driving the evil spirit away, bringing health and happiness to people. Just follow the main road, you will arrive at the Noboribetsu Jigokudani scenery forest. There are wooden paths that leads you to different view points. And you can get closed to the hottest…

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