Lake Towada Snow Festival

After the rather large scale adventure of the previous weekend, my plan was to relax at home and give my wallet a chance to cool off... Well, that was the plan, anyway. Instead there was a last minute hang out with my neighbours, cheap sushi and the purchase of additional controllers and a copy of Super Smash Bros (to be fair, Tim bought the game and one of the controllers, as he said that one could simply not have an N64 without sufficient controllers and a copy of 'Smash Bros) for Tim, David and I to play to round out our evening.

Tim shared that he and some friends were going to head to the Towada Snow festival the next day, so I asked if I was able to tag along. Being the nice fellow that he is, he said 'sure'. We were under the impression that this would be an evening event, so I was pretty lazy and didn't make much effort to head to the gym in the morning right after my weekly Skype with my folks... Then we were both surprised to find out that we should head out around 2:30. Roger that.

But the weather did not quite agree... the weather seemed to... gently suggest... that we should stay in the comfort of our own homes, sipping on warm beverages, wearing fuzzy slippers and frumpy-comfy pants and basking in television's warm glowing warming glow. The weather... well... it was downright... Manitoban!

Hrrrrrmmmmmm

The snowfall was fluffy, and when the wind blew, it was a white-out. It took twice as long as it should have, and we ended up missing our rendez-vous point because we didn't see it due to watching the road and looking out for oncoming traffic. We turned around and got to the meeting place and awaited the other car to discuss how (or if) we should proceed. Jenny was quite determined to go, so we piled into her car and set back out into the winter wasteland. Thankfully there weren't any close calls and we all made it there in one piece.

The weather had decided to behave itself and it was quite a nice night... Actually, I think I would describe it as almost enchanting. I've always liked the way trees look all lit up with lights on crisp winter evenings, the snow crunching underfoot. I suppose that's why, when asked what part of Japan I would like to work in, I said The North. For one thing, I know that sometimes the heat just kills me, so if I have even a chance of having less heat to deal with, I will take it. Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons (especially the latter, but maybe Spring in Japan will bump up it's favor with me...) My apologies for the blurry nature of some of the photos, I neglected to charge my camera's battery after the Hokkaido weekend plus the low temperatures resulted in no more battery power, so I had to use my phone for the bulk of them. I've also stolen a few from Jenny's Facebook because she took some really really nice shots with her fancy-pants camera. :)

This wall was on the on the way into the festival grounds from the parking lot, leading to the archway of blue lights which opened up to a big clearing with lighted displays, a main stage backed by a large snow carving and a row of various food booths for mid-festival snacking.

Poor ice fishie fell down... :*(    ><> ><>  ><>   ><>   ><>   ><>   ><>   ><>

Giant vat of hot food... I had a steam bun full of delicious meat and onion... (nikuman, I think...) I wish I was eating another one right now... Omnomnomnomnom.

Cutest Yosaikoi group EVAH! OMG! These kids were such little troopers for dancing in the cold.

Big ol' line at the other bar, anyway...

There were also two bars. One was a 飲み放題 which we did not go to. Tim and I headed to the other bar and had one bevvie each. He had a drink in a glass made of ice, I had one out of a cored-and-frozen apple. Yummy cranberry juice!

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Unflattering photos of both of us... (well, especially me :P) Ah well. It was to showcase the beverage vessels  not our visages.

While Tim and I were in the bar, Juliann and Jenny were warming their feet in the large pool that had been created for just such a purpose. I joined them once I was finished my juice and relaxed for a little bit while my toes thawed. We were in the corner and could see the show on the main stage from the comfort of the warm water. Quite the energetic group up there! There were a couple of MCs who started wandering the crowd and got some audience participation going... which turned out to be Tim and Katie. Haha.

B-F,L-R: Me, Juliann, Jenny & Katie

Juliann, Katie, Tim, Me

A few photo ops later and it was time to pile back into the car and make our ways back from whence we came, another successful adventure concluded. We didn't even have to push the car out of the parking lot when we got back to it. Woo woo!