Sapporo Snow Festival

Number of visitors this year...? ofcourse more than ice sculptures ! Short term impressive PR !

It just started today but usually the figure they quote for number of visitors is 1-2 million. I've never seen that many people there at one time in years gone by though :-)

Oh, I see, it is oK for Japanese swimmers to pump their fists in the air and yell, but not Mongolian Sumo.

It's a good thing this thing will melt soon because it'll only take until about spring time for the Tokyo government to withdraw its bid in complete embarrassment. Of course, that'll be billions in tax dollars later.

angry Doraemon!

tokyoO? what's with the O?

God. I hope that isn't going to be their tagline - Tokyo O

What's with the 'O' you say? That's Ihsihara's IQ and the amount of feasible ideas the idiot has. It probably also represents the budget, the level of enthusiasm from the international community and the zero level of general interest, period.

smithinjapan: It's a good thing this thing will melt soon"

It can't melt soon enough!

tokyoO? what's with the O?

It seems to be just located just about where the navel would be, although I doubt that's the real purpose.

Let's see....9 "comments" so far. The funny part is that someone even dares to mention something about IQ....:))))

Tourists down this year in Sapporo, but it's still a zoo. Sapporo during the Snow Festival is even more of a party town than usual. Hard to get a lunch table at my usual restaurants, though.

thanks for your contribution roomtemperature. it is quite obvioulsy the best by far

The "O" is for "zero chance of a successful Olympic hosting bid."

-The "O" is for "zero chance of a successful Olympic hosting bid."-

Strange, the IOC gave Tokyo the best score of the all.

Try again, Nessie?

Hey!! In Japan, raising your arms in victory is not allowed!! Officially warn that man!!

S

I think the Sumo thing was frankly pretty petty. But then I am not a fan and don't know the rules. If it is taboo to be happy, well, they should know better.

As for the Olympics. This is that old nightmare Ishihara and his cronies dream and a nightmare for the rest of us. They will get lots of kick back and skimmed money. The rest of us lose our parks, have to see our taxes wasted and get to have Tokyo turned into even more of a crowded nightmare than it is already.

Can we just box Ishihara and his buddies and mail them to Siberia instead?

Roomtemperature: As with Osaka, Japan will finish dead last out of the four. Even Chicago has a better chance. My bet is that it goes to Brazil's Rio. Sorry, my friend, but as much as I love Japan they fail in almost all areas of criteria for hosting a successful Olympics. And please show us links to where the IOC gave Tokyo 'the best score of all', please. My guess is you don't have any.

smithinjapan, you couldn't do me a greater pleasure! In other words....you asked for it. Download the report of the IOC Candidature acceptance working group here:

http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_1317.pdf

Or to make it more understandable....from the four applicant cities Tokyo got the highest evaluation score.

Chicago 7.0 Madrid 8.1 Rio de Janeiro 6.4 Tokyo 8.3

As you see...I DO have links.

My turn now......do you have any more guesses? Or are you convinced now?

Your URL didn't work. Feel free to post a link that works, though. In the mean time, too much hot air only serves to melt sculptures such as these.

Strange, the IOC gave Tokyo the best score of the all.Try again, Nessie?

I'll bet you a virtual Guinness that Tokyo doesn't get it.

"I'll bet you a virtual Guinness that Tokyo doesn't get it."

Bet, guess, suppose.....now virtual....really.... sigh....

By the way, about that "O" you are all mesmerized by but in the meanwhile pretending to know it so well. Snow is white and will always stay white, that's why some symbols will look like an "O"...;)

WOW A JAPANESE MAN PROUD WITH JAPANESE SWIMMING HERO KATAJIMA