The 62nd Sapporo Snow Festival (Sapporo Yuki Matsuri) was opened today and will delight visitors to Sapporo for the next seven days through Sunday, February 13, 2011. Below are some of the photos from our visit to the festival's main site in Odori Park today.
The Temple of Heaven, Beijing
The sculpture Hokkaido - a Tourist Wonderland includes Chinese landmarks to welcome visitors from Asia
Popular manga characters carved into snow
Massive snow sculptures stand in front of Sapporo's buildings
This year's traditional Japanese structure is the Hiunkaku Pavilion of Nishi-Honganji in Kyoto
The Lion King musical is scheduled to open in Sapporo later this year
Korea's Daejeon Metropolitan City represented as large ice sculpture
The Slider of North Donbei-kun, one of several snow slides at the festival
Kids enjoy an ice slide
Festival goers pass by a row of smaller snow sculptures
Sculptors representing various countries work on their display
