Joetsu City, located in the prefecture of Niigata, is where skiing was first introduced to Japan in 1911 by a military officer of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Theodor Edler von Lerch, known as Reruhi-san in Japan.
The festival starts with a presentation of “single pole skiing” on the slopes of the Kanayasan Ski Area.
The Iiyama snow festival is held in Iiyama city near Myoko. In the whole town snow sculptures are constructed and can be admired. Various food and drink stalls are set up, and visitors can climb into inner tubes of tires and whizz down a big snow slide. The highlights of the evening are a professional fire show and a fire performance with a history of 300 years, transmitted from the Narazawa district. A man, dressed as a tengu (a long-nosed mythical creature), preforms an intricate dance brandishing a huge, flaming torch.
Tokamachi Snow Festival 15th-16th of February 2020
The Tokamachi Snow Festival is held annually for three days surrounding the third Saturday of February. It calls itself the first ever snow festival celebrated in Japan, having had its first edition in 1950, the same year that the Sapporo Snow Festival started. Many snow sculptures are created for the occasion and exhibited at various locations in the city.
In Japan, the Yasuzuka candle road is one of the biggest events of its kind. The snow candles lining the road are made by people of the town. First, snow is packed firmly into a bucket. The bucket is then overturned and lifted away. The resulting snow mound is hollowed out and a lit candle placed inside it creating a candle glow.
