Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Yuki Matusuri 2014

Saturday, the morning started out cold (3.5 F), but with no snow falling!  I think the snow clouds made their way to Tokyo that day.

 
Ted fed the birds on our balcony first thing.  You notice I’m not out in my robe feeding the birds!

 
Are you wondering what the proper attire for attending a snow festival? I wore boots, heavy socks, inner pants, outside slick pants, long sleeve shirt, heavy sweater, fuzzy vest, down jacket, all covered by the wind jacket, not to mention the unmentionables underneath it all.  This ensemble is completed by my panda hat and scarf (made by my friend Rhoda).  The panda hat generates a lot of attention, especially by children and elderly people.  One day three boys told me (in English) I had a nice head.  Even though I've been told only the Yakusa wear sunglasses in Japan, Ted and I wear sunglasses and we are not Yakusa.

 
We took the bus to Sapporo and this is what it looked like out the window.

 
It was a crisp, cold day, getting up to about 20 F, then cooling down again after the sun went down. This is a world famous event, so there were many foreigners. It was surprising to hear so many people speaking English.  Here are a few photos from the festival.













 

4 comments:

liniecat said...

Gosh Im cold just looking at the pictures!!
It all looks so beautiful though and well worth turning out in the cold to see.
No wonder you had rosy cheeks in one piccy!!
How long will the ice sculptures remain - er - solid do you think?
It must be really impressive to see art work in ice like that. Im guessing it would have to be largely done by hand too surely, once a machine cuts a block of a suitable size?
How long have you lived over there?
By the way, I wondered what your blog name means translated to english?

Queeniepatch said...

Brr! I have long wanted to go to Sapporo to see the snow festival, now I think it is too cold for me! Beautiful, though!

Anonymous said...

Thank you both for braving the cold to take the fantastic pictures. They are as good as the Olympic pics of Russian culture! If you're dressed in 1000 layers - it's not cold!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, thanks so much for sharing that! The details are so intricate. Weren't your cheeks and nose just freezing? I'm happy to know you are NOT Yakusa. =)