insights from frontier Japan

Mao Ichiyama won the women's section of the Sapporo Challenge Half Marathon with a personal best time on Wednesday, beating out fellow Japan Olympic team members Honami Maeda and Ayuko Suzuki.

The ‘73rd Matsumae Sakura (cherry blossom) Festival’ began on April 24 at the Matsumae Park venue in the southern Hokkaido town of Matsumae, where the cherry blossoms bloomed earlier than any time since observations began in 1982.

The "Red Bull Jump & Freeze" event was held at Sapporo Teine Ski Resort (Teine-ku, Sapporo) on March 28. Participants wore creative and silly costumes, slid down a slope on snowboards and sleds, and jumped into a pool.

A "Scenic Night" with candlelight illuminating the winter town was held on February 20 in several spots around the town of Kutchan, which neighbors the town of Niseko.

The "Akan Yukar Utasa Festival" displays the amazingness of the Ainu culture that exists in the Lake Akan area of eastern Hokkaido's Kushiro City. Starting on February 13, it was held for 2 days at the Lake Akan Ainu Kotan settlement. It was held without a physical audience to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus. Performances including prayer ceremonies to the gods and ancient Ainu ritual dances were broadcast online for free.

A "Frozen Pants" display was held in front of Takinoue Town Culture Centre in the Okhotsk region on February 6. Articles of clothing were frozen in full-form shapes to look like invisible people are wearing them.

The ‘Online Sapporo Snow Festival 2021’ that is replacing the Sapporo Snow Festival, which was cancelled due to the effects of the Covid-19 virus, began via the Internet on February 4. Videos and images showing the production of snow sculptures and the history of past snow festivals will be streamed until the 28th.

A colorful doll display has appeared in the visitor center of Hokkaido Soya Fureai Park in advance of the March 3rd Momo no Sekku (Peach Festival) day for praying that girls will grow up healthily. The display is a delight to the eyes for everyone who visits.

‘Sairinka’, an event in which nighttime snowfields are colored with light and sound, began at Tokachigaoka Park in Tokachigawa Onsen (in the town of Otofuke next to Obihiro in eastern Hokkaido) on January 23. Due to the spread of coronavirus infections, visitors are obliged to undergo temperature checks at the entrance, and the scale of the event has been reduced, with some parts cancelled.