Hokkaido Winter:OTARU SNOW LIGHTING PATH FESTIVAL
1:00 AM
OTARU SNOW
LIGHTING PATH FESTIVAL (“Otaru Yuki Akari
No Michi”)
This
small harbor city was a major fishing and trade port in the 1800s and remnants
of its history is still evident today. A 30-minute train ride from Sapporo,
this snow festival is smaller in scale and more traditional than the Sapporo
Snow Festival. They pride themselves in the hand made snow sculptures. The festival uses thousands of candles to
create a glowing and romantic display. It is illuminated from 5:00 PM to 9:00
PM on February 3 to 12. You can see volunteers manually lighting each candle at
around 5 PM.
There
are 2 main sites. One is the city’s iconic Otaru Canal (“Unga Kaijo”). The 300
meters of the canal is covered with small buoys with candles and the path
beside the water is lined with small snow statues and candles inside formed ice. This year’s theme for the
Otaru Canal is “Wavering Lights on the
Water”.
You can start your way from one end of the canal site then cross the road back towards the train station to go to the other site.
The other site is the Temiyasen Kaijo, which is the old train
tracks of the abolished Temiyasen railway. The half a kilometer path is
decorated with lanterns and snow statues.
This year’s theme is “Snow and Light
in Silence”. There are displays of ice with flowers and leaves.
There is a small slide for tubing. On this side is also a collection of small owl ice sculptures.
Both sites run parallel to each other and are within 15-minute
walk from the Otaru Train Station.
Last
train for Sapporo leaves at around 10:30PM. So you have plenty of time to
admire the display and the illumination is turned off for the night before you
head back.
Dates: February 3-12, 2017
Illumination/Light Up: 5:00PM -9:00 PM
Sites: 2 main sites (Otaru Canal
& Temiya)
Access: OTARU STATION. Both sites
are within 15 minutes walk from Otaru Station. You can also take the Otaru
Stroller Bus (Blue Line) to reach the Otaru Canal (Y220).
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