Sapporo Snow Festival crowds recover to pre-pandemic level in 2024

Up here now after visiting Yuki Matsuri and now skiing. Great time!

Fabulous to see the record Japan tourism boom benefiting Hokkaido too! Wonderful place with the best powder skiing and seafood in Japan, in my humble opinion.

Currently, I'm up here following a visit to Yuki Matsuri and some skiing. It's been a fantastic experience!

"removal of coronavirus measures" despite coronavirus domestic 10th wave. Politics or media or society prioritize money than health and the lives of people. Its victim or bereaved family are ignored at such society.

They definitely did not need to wait this long to resume it. Why couldn't they have resumed it last year, as the country had already reopened fully? Or two years ago?

Does anybody actually believe that people making ice sculptures outside really constitutes an environment for the virus to spread and thus an actual risk? Covid era policies and event cancellations were always sanctimonious theater, nothing more nothing less.

Wolfshine

I think Hideomi does, lol

crowds recover to pre-pandemic level

....are we going to have to hear this every time for every single event this year? We get it. We all lived through it. It's a good thing, but fully expected.

Excellent..

GO SAPPORO..

GO JAPAN..

wish they would at least show some pictures of the sculptures though....

They definitely did not need to wait this long to resume it. Why couldn't they have resumed it last year, as the country had already reopened fully? Or two years ago?

Because of public health related risks, that should b obvious, people do not magically appear in the site and go back the same way to their houses, travel and accommodation can lead to crowded spaces, combining that with people coming from places heavily affected by an easily transmissible disease is what justifies the cancellation.