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Coping with winter in northern Japan

Winter is now in full swing here in northern Japan with the average day dipping down below -15.

Winter is now in full swing here in northern Japan with the average day dipping down below -15.

While it stays quite chilly here, we still see little snow for Hokkaido.

Tokachi, the region I am living in, is known for very sunny days in the winter, melting away the snow quickly, and leaving a dangerous sheen of ice on the roads.

This creates an excellent environment for up-and-coming speed skaters and hockey players because it is easier to create and keep excellent outdoor rinks.

Tokachi produces some of the best speed skaters in the world. Last year, I had a student in Grade 9, who was in the top five of Hokkaido.

Just one hour north of Toyokoro is the city of Kushiro.

Kushiro is home to a very popular, and very good hockey team called Kushiro Cranes.

However, outside of Tokachi, and west, in neighbouring regions, they see more clouds, fog, and relatively overcast weather.

They get quite a bit of snow every year.

This, combined with the mountainous terrain, makes for beautiful skiing and snowboarding conditions.

Hokkaido is a very popular tourist destination in the wintertime because of this.

The powder snow, picturesque mountains, and the all-around cheap traveling costs makes this perfect for tourists from Australia, New Zealand, and Korea to get away, and ski.

Japan has festivals all year round — in the summer we have a huge fireworks festival (Hanabe Matsuri) and in the near by city of Obihiro, during the winter we have quite impressive festivals.

About 50 minutes away, in the city of Obihiro, during the first two weeks of February we have an ice festival — Koori Matsuri. People from around Tokachi create spectacular sculptures out of ice. Also, during the first two weeks, in Sapporo (about 200 kilometres west), there is a Snow Festival — Yuki Matsuri.

This is a huge festival, using the entire 12-block expanse of Odori Park to place sculptures from around Japan.

This year’s main sculpture was similar looking to Mount Rushmore but instead of presidents, they used Star Wars Characters. Winter is a very beautiful, exciting time in Hokkaido.

Thanks for reading! Proverb: Shoshin wasuru bekarazu — We should not forget our beginner’s spirit.

Anna Marshall is in Summerland’s sister city of Toyokoro, Japan as the assistant English teacher.