A letter from Jeremy Hapeta. from New Zealand, who came to Sapporo using his country's Overseas Experience program. Mr. Hapeta had participated in the Sapporo Snow Festival in 2005 as a volunteer snow sculptor.

Kia ora fellow Kiwis,

My name is Jeremy Hapeta and I have been living in Sapporo City, Japan, for nine months now.
I chose to come here for an original OE/cultural experience that is different from the 'norm' often experienced in Europe by many other young Kiwis like myself. Japan, as a nation, is very different from Aotearoa.
However, in Japan's northernmost and second largest island, (Hokkaido), you will find the beautiful city of Sapporo. On this decorated island and in this vibrant city, in particular, you would think you were still in NZ if it were not for the people!

The four reasons why you need to visit this place are: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter!! The seasons here are as incredible as they are contrasting.
I arrived here in May 2004 at the end of Spring and caught the very end of the Cherry Blossom Festival. Sensational is about all that I can say to describe it! Sapporo rivals Christchurch City's Gardens with flowers every which way you turn, especially in Odori Park. Odori Park is perhaps one of the most relaxing and well maintained public parks or gardens I have ever come across.

Summer was the next season I experienced here and once again Odori Park was full of sunshine and flowers. I should also mention the abundance of picnicking people enjoying lunches and the interesting live music performed daily by a diversity of local artists. About the only thing this city hasn't got is a beach, but in saying that - the nearest one is about 30 to 45 minutes drive away (which is not far by Japanese standards believe me)!

So Summer came and fell away and as the heat descended so too did the leaves of the deciduous trees. The wonderful array of colours were quite simply superb! There were various and numerous shades of browns, reds, oranges and yellows that completely saturated and dominated the local landscape. It is certainly a sight many an Arrowtown local would be familiar with come Autumn in the deep south.

Finally, there is the Winter which brings with it five meters of snow, (most of it powder), on average per season. Despite the snow one would be forgiven for suggesting that Otago is still a tad colder than Sapporo though. In being here it is easy to understand and appreciate why this former 1972 Winter Olympics City, along with its surrounding Niseko ski resort, has the growing reputation of becoming the next Aspen.

Furthermore, I have also been fortunate enough to be involved in the 56th Sapporo Snow Festival this year as a sculptural volunteer. It truly is a sight to see, and over 2 million people from Japan and all across the globe come to the city just to see it every year! Usually a team from NZ enters in it annually, but this is the first year in a long time (perhaps in its 56 year history) that no NZ team has entered. Therefore, I feel even more proud to have made a minor contribution on behalf of the Kiwis who couldn't!
Don't leave it up to your imagination - come, experience it yourself!!