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The 67th annual Sapporo Snow Festival officially opened in Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaidō today, with operators expecting more than 2.3 million visitors to the festival prior to its closing on 11 February.

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The Sapporo Snow Festival.
The Sapporo Snow Festival. <span class="media-attribution">Image by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen-oung/6081827524/in/photolist-agoaTH-agobFZ-agqY2m-agqWis-agqXrf-agoffX-qSWQvA-8ZWULW-7McVn1-2o7PL-qxZPmf-qycTbz-afBhWU-afyvEz-afyvz6-afBi37-afBi1o-afBi2b-afyvCp-qycSTa-jVRSfe-jVSLxt-jVRVGK-jVRZ8T-jVTsAV-jVUoKs-jVUsoj-jVSM5v-jVSJ8i-jVUrH1-bugQAr-bugPRK-bugQaZ-bugQnM-bugQUH-rdxqR8-bugUDZ-bugU5v-bugT8z-bugTt2-bugUkT-bugTJx-bpLUxR-bpLUAZ-jVRZDx-jVUpWL-agq8zj-bugWrB-bugWC2-bugWNt" target="_blank" rel="external">SteFou!</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/" target="_blank" rel="external">CC BY 2.0</a></span>

The event is one of the biggest snow- and ice-sculpture festivals in the world, this year featuring more than 200 sculptures across a number of sites, including Ōdōri Kōen (Ōdōri Park) , which stretches 1.5km through Sapporo’s downtown area. Among the sculpture highlights are a to-scale bullet train carriage, an enormous humanoid from the manga series Attack on Titan, and replicas of significant buildings. As part of the event, 12 international teams will also compete in a snow sculpture contest from 5 February to 7 February. Read more: ajw.asahi.com

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