After our delicious warm ramen meal, we walked to Hirosaki station to grab our bags. We then walked for about 40 minutes with our backpacks to check into our accommodation “Dormmy Inn Hirosaki”. We went down a lovely pedestrian street for most of the walk. We had prepaid the stay, but had to pay a 300 Yen onsen tax to use the onsen (which is about $3 each). 

The room was on the 9th floor, 906 (sooo close to 905 haa), and so nicely designed. We walked in and there was a door dividing the entrance and sink area from the bed area so Jives joked that that was the whole room and we would have to sleep under the sink. The bedroom was nice with a big desk and television. The view from the room was the best part, it looked out on a snowy five story pagoda and the snow covered mountains in the distance (which we would be staying in the next day). We decided we had to check out that five story pagoda temple later on in the evening! This is when we found out that we had been IDIOTS… we found a flyer in the room advertising the dates of the Hirosaki snow festival and it was that very night!!!!! We had not missed it!! 

We went to the Family Mart across the street from the hotel and got some snacks and things for dinner which we ate as we waited for it to get dark outside. At about 5:30 the sun had completely set, so we set out towards the pagoda that we could see from our room. We walked along a narrow strip of snow that is a pathway in the summertime, but because of all the accumulated snow the path was barely wide enough to walk through, and it was also about 2 metres off the ground and right along a busy roadway. One slip on the snow and you would be underneath a car! The temple itself was closed, but we could wander around the grounds and there was a lot to see! There were quite a few bunny statues, but they seemed permanent (it was the year of the rabbit so if they were temporary they might have been in celebration of the lunar new year), like it was a bunny shrine? 

We then walked towards Hirosaki Castle. All of the lanterns we had seen earlier in the day were lit up! The bridges were also lined with lanterns they had added since we had been there earlier in the day. It was snowing pretty hard as well, which was magical. We wandered around the grounds once again, marvelling at the changes that the night time had made to the festival.

There was soft drumming music playing and hundreds of snow lanterns filled with candles. There was also a large section of hand painted glass lanterns that school children had made that were lit up as well.

The glow from all the lights was so warming despite the freezing temperatures and continuous snow. Lots of families were out marvelling together at the festival, with their sleds in tow. The area with all the food booths was bustling, and the warming tents were full of people, huddled around the kerosene heaters.

The coolest part was the grounds below the castle. From the castle you could see hundreds of little kamakura (lanterns made of snow) lit up as far as the eye could see, orange against the dark blues of the snow. We then walked down to the grounds below the castle to walk among the snow lanterns.The kamakura were all along a river as well, and we kept crossing back and forth across the red bridges. We wandered all amongst the lanterns, in the cold night the heat that the candles were producing was actually very lovely. Each candle was sitting in a cut out can (mostly coffee tins), and there were men walking around keeping the candles lit and replacing them. We connected to the free wifi in the park and managed to record a livestream to our YouTube channel, with was pretty neat!

We then headed back to the hotel, as we were very snowy and soaked from the heavy snowfall. Once back at the hotel we decided to go to the onsen on the rooftop. It was about 10pm, so we hoped it wouldn’t be too busy ( I was scared after my confrontation with the old lady in the Aomori onsen). I entered the change area and just a few ladies were there, with maybe three more in the bathing area. I chose a locker near the wall to be out of the way and then made my way into the bath with just my modesty towel in hand. I bathed at the wash station and then went straight outside to the outdoor onsen. I was the only person in the outdoor onsen and it was snowing heavily, it was so beautiful. I sat in the warm water, surrounded by a rocky border and gardens for about 15-20 minutes and rinsed off before heading back to our room.