Anime Reigns Over Japan's Biggest Snow Festival Despite Weather
Nearly every year since 1950, the Sapporo Snow Festival has displayed astonishing works of art made from ice and snow, and since the explosion of anime's popularity, you can always find beloved shows featured at the festival. This year, the festival ran from February 4th to the 11th, celebrating its 75th year. Despite a warmer-than-normal start to the Snow Festival with 5°C temperatures, thousands of people from all over the world gathered at Odori Park in central Sapporo city for snow statue viewing, including thousands of otaku excited to see what anime displays were in store for the 2025 event.
The largest anime snow statue displayed this year could be found at STV Square and featured Rimuru Tempest from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. The isekai anime is massively popular in Japan - so much so that within the first few days of the festival all of the exclusive merchandise being sold at the pop-up shop closeby to the snow sculpture was completely sold out.
On the other side of Odori Park, about a 10-minute walk from Rimuru, stood another section full of anime statues. This year's anime area featured shows such as Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World, My Happy Marriage, and Medalist. Kadokawa had two small pop-up buildings in the area, one for selling merchandise from anime featured as snow sculptures and the other as a photo booth. While not prominent as snow sculptures at the event, you could also buy merch from KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!, Delicious in Dungeon, and Oshi no Ko.
Kadokawa's photo booth featured displays for Re:Zero, My Happy Marriage, and Medalist. Merchandise also seemed to quickly sell out at the Kadokawa store, especially for Re:Zero and KonoSuba.
With higher temperatures than normal at the Sapporo Snow Festival, safety was a priority. In 2012, a Hatsune Miku statue collapsed due to the warm weather that year, injuring a woman. The above-freezing temperatures can cause snow to melt and then freeze again at night, creating dangerous and slippery walkways.
Thankfully, local police and festival volunteers kept pedestrian traffic moving safely and often sprinkled sand on the walkways to increase traction. The extra focus on safety has continued to let Hatsune Miku shine with her own snow statue every year at the festival.
The yearly Snow Miku sculpture always brings in crowds. This year's Snow Miku theme was "Crystal Snow", which is also the title of the 2025 Snow Miku song. The song played on the speakers near the sculpture, and there was a light-up snow at night. In years past at the Sapporo Snow Festival, you could buy Snow Miku merchandise at a pop-up shop near the statue, but this year various stores around town such as GEO and HMV sold the merchandise, perhaps to keep traffic at bay at the event.
The anime sculptures sprinkled throughout Odori Park seemed neverending. I spotted The Apothecary Diaries, Attack on Titan, Dragon Ball, Gundam, Yu-gi-oh!, and Doraemon. If you ever go to the Sapporo Snow Festival, keep an eye out for anime sculptures at every turn, just to avoid missing out. There were also plenty of snow sculptures featuring popular video games such as Pokémon, Monster Hunter Wilds, Identity V, and Blue Archive.
From Left to Right: Attack on Titan, Dragonball, The Apothecary Diaries
The final day of the Sapporo Snow Festival proved to be tough for people wanting to get in some last-minute viewing as strong wind and snow struck the event. As a Sapporo Snow Festival veteran, I've often noticed that throughout the week the snow sculptures succumb to wear and tear, and by the last day they usually don't look so great. When the event experiences heavy snow, it can accumulate on top of the art pieces and distort their image. My recommendation for the best photos is to go to the festival as early as possible.
To keep updated on anything related to the Sapporo Snow Festival, you can check out their official event page. I highly recommend the festival to huge anime fans, as Sapporo is one of the only places you can see your favorite anime characters carved out of snow and ice - a truly unique way to indulge in otaku culture! The food is wonderful and warm, the merch is exclusive, and there's anime all around. I'm stoked to see what is in store for the 2026 festival and what anime will be displayed.
