Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan

The festival is held in and around Sapporo, the capital of the most northerly Japanese island of Hokkaido, and can trace its roots back to a group of high school friends who decided in 1950 to see who could make the best ice sculpture in the city's Odori Park. Since then, it has snowballed into an international jamboree of ice art, attracting well over 2 million people for each of the last three years and making the event one of Japan's must-see events.Sapporo is Japan's Val d'Isere and competes with China's Harbin for the coveted title of Asia's most stupendous Ice Festival. This seven-day extravaganza has been running for more than half a century, and 2012 celebrates its 63rd edition.