The 35th Chitose Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival 2013 | 第35回千歳・支笏湖 氷濤まつり

The "Chitose - Lake Shikotsu Hyoto Ice Festival" held at Lake Shikotsu Hot Spring area attracts a lot of people from Japan and abroad every year. About 30 big and small ice statues in this festival are created with water from Lake Shikotsu.The festival is a long-run event from the 25th of Jan. through the 17th of Feb.

You must be impressed with these wonderful "blue" ice statues. Lake Shikotsu is very transparent, pure and cold that can naturally make the ice cube blue, which is dubbed as "Shikotsu Blue".

I'll show you some of my favorite ice statues in this festival this year.
Look at Lake Shikotsu↓ Very beautiful, isn't it?

Go down the slope, and you will arrive at the festival venue.

Voila!
This is the main gate tunnel!

Today's temperature was - 3C. Not bad, isn't it? Hahaha! Anyway, when you come here, please wear a thick coat!

Are you ready? Let's enter it!

Wow! Wow! Wow! How romantic it is! It is like an ice wonderland!

■Blue Tower （ブルータワー）
After passing through the runnel, the huge tower welcomes you! Beautiful, isn't it??? I love this so called "Sikotsu blue"! It is 11m high, two meters higher than the one last year!

■Ice Falls （アイスフォール）
Beside the tower, there is a huge waterfall and

you can see kokanee salmon swimming in the basin. This smaller salmon is the landlocked version of the sockeye salmon and living in the lake. Actually it is very delicious!

■Moss Cave （苔の洞門）
Near the lake, there is a 420-m long moss-covered cave, which was formed through the eruption of Mt. Tarumae ,and is a tourist attraction now.
Every year a green ice cave like that natural cave is created in the festival venue. I really recommend this and you must love it! When you enter it...............

Tada!!!
See??? It looks like a real moss cave!!! Pine leaves are used for the art work.

At the end of the cave, kokanee salmon are decorated like an aquarium↓

■Child Rink
If I were a child, I could skate like them!!!!

■Blue chateau （ブルーシャトー）
Clime the chateau and

please enjoy the whole picture of the festival! Fantastic!!!

■Big Mountain （ビッグマウンテン）
We are so impressed with this mountain every year! Can you imagine local people not professional artists create these ice sculpture???

Amazing!

■Gig Slope
How exciting it is!!! Of course, we enjoyed it!

■Hyoto Shrine （氷濤神社）
The festival site has a shinto shrine, too!!! My guests are so excited!!

If you are tired, please drop by this food court in the venue!

Personally I recommend this food stand outside of the venue.

Look at the grilled chicken! It's HUGE!

How about a giant squid? Hahaha! Hokkaido is famous for its delicious fresh seafood!

There are several restaurants between the venue and the parking lot.

"Tonton" serves such a big tempura bowl! Yummy x 2!!!

When you come this area, please enjoy kokanee dishes like this↓ I recommend kokanee tempura!

"Kotobuki" serves

kokanee tempura soba↓ This salmon is very tasty!!

If you like sweets, I recommend "Mizu no uta"↓

Their cream puff is very appetizing!!!

At night, the statues are illuminated like this! Super beautiful!

It is very cold at night, but it's worth coming here and enjoying these colorful statues!

Every weekend and holidays, we can enjoy fireworks!

Please enjoy this admirable and gorgeous sight.

*Would you like to know the general information about the lake?
If so, please refer to my other post→→click here!

■Where is Lake Chikotsu?

View Larger Map

■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?

I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Higashichitose BBQ （東千歳バーベキュー）| Chicken BBQ Restaurant | Chitose

Hokkaido has a lot of unique restaurants! How about "Higashichitose BBQ （東千歳バーベキュー）" located near New Chitose Airport?

This cow shed-like restaurant is at the edge of Chitose city, but..................

Look at the looooooooooooooong queue!!! This is an unbelievably popular BBQ restaurant!!

Famous TV stars come here all the way from Tokyo, and TV programs sometimes feature this restaurant!

We waited for about one hour outside of the building, and entered it.

Look at the inside filled with smoke!!!!! This is like a site of "mass murder with coal briquette conducted by a cult"! Hahaha!

We continued crying and crying with smoke!!!!

This is the menu!
They serve chicken only. So BBQ on the board means chicken BBQ! If you want to drink something, please serve yourself here! Interesting system, isn't it???

Cheers! We enjoyed non-alcohol beer first!

It's show time!!
One portion is consist of two chunks of chicken meat (a half body of chicken).

The restaurant staff seasons the meat with "secret" salt and pepper!

Then we grill it over charcoal!

Looks very yummy x 2!!!

Their stir-fried vegetables are also recommendable!!! It looks delicious, but.............

as they use special seasonings and oil, stir-fry it until slightly brown!! Yummy x 2!!!

Voila!
I like this aluminum dish, which is very nostalgic!!!!

 Let's start to eat!!!

Break the meat, and eat it!

Break the meat again, and eat it again! Hahaha!

Why is their chicken so delicious? Do they use slightly-marinated meat or special charcoal?? Nobody knows! This is a restaurant secret!

When you come here, please consider the waiting time, too!

As the restaurant is filled with smoke, I recommend you to wear casual clothes! I love their super-delicious chicken!!!

■Where is "Higashichitose BBQ （東千歳バーベキュー）"?

View Larger Map

■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?

I'll guide you! Plz click here!