🏮 Tokamachi Yuki Matsuri

十日町雪祭り

Tokamachi, Niigata (Snow Rich Hiroba) · Every year on 25 February

Snow festival

164 days to go
Rooms around Tokamachi, Niigata fill up while the festival is on.

The Tokamachi Snow Festival is held every winter in Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture, and is a major winter event run by residents of this heavy-snow region. It began in 1950 from a local idea of "making snow a friend and enjoying snow," and is inscribed as the birthplace of the modern snow festival as Japan's first resident-led snow festival. It is held across a wide area centered on the city district, with the Tokamachi Snow Festival Executive Committee involved in its operation. The main attraction is the Snow Art Exhibition, where snow sculptures handmade by citizens are displayed; around 40 works are produced each year, and judging is divided into categories such as the art division. About 10 festival plazas are also set up around the city, and at the Snow Rich Plaza near Tokamachi Station visitors can enjoy stage events, snow activities, food stalls, and the Rainbow Snow Fireworks that color the winter night sky. Plazas around Echigo-Mizusawa Station and Shimojo Station also host events rich in local character, allowing visitors to fully experience the winter of a snow country.

Getting there

By train: From Tokyo, take the JR Joetsu Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Echigo-Yuzawa Station, transfer to the Hokuhoku Line (Hokuetsu Express), and ride to Tokamachi Station (about 2 hours). By car: From Tokyo, use the Kanetsu Expressway's Muikamachi IC or Shiozawa-Ishiuchi IC (about 3 hours 40 minutes).