Attention! Iiyama snow festival on Feb 9/10

Even though there are snow festivals in some places in Japan around this season,  Nagano also has a snow festival in the place called "Iiyama". I suppose a lot of people do not know how good and convenient the access is. Iiyama station is actually the next station of Nagano by Shinkansen Hakutaka. If you had JR pass and took it from Tokyo station, it would only take 1h and 50minutes, so I highly recommend to put this in your plan for the upcoming weekend if you were looking for something interesting and seasonal.

In addition, I am going to visit it on Feb 9th with my friends and so excited!! 

Origin 

Local citizens used to think of snow as a "Burden" because it gives them various troubles such as It blocking roads, having to remove it and sometimes it crashes their houses.

However, they changed the ideas on the troublesome snow, and started to take it from a different angle and turn the burden into an opportunity for the city. "Turning worrying into Entertaining" That is the concept of the festival.

Locals are surely welcoming you with local foods you cannot resist to be attracted and its traditional culture can entertain you. There is no doubt you will experience "Iiyamaness" through the festival.

Date: 2/9 (10:00-20:00),  2/10 (10:00-15:00)

You can see the details of the festival on the link below (sorry for it written in Japanese)

Featured events (based on my personal opinion)  are seeing over 100 snow sculptures curbed world famous artists, locals and children lined along streets around Iiyama area which you are able to see through 2days, and fireworks on the first day(only on 9th) between 19:30 and 20:00. As for fireworks according to the information I found, it lasts about 20 minutes, but I definitely think it is worthwhile waiting until then or visiting for it as the purpose of the festival. 

Transportation

・JR Shinkansen from Tokyo: Hakutaka for approximately 1h50m runs every 1-2hours.

・LocalTrain from Nagano: JR Iiyama line bound for Tokamachi (十日町) for 45min, no need to change the train and take off at Iiyama station.

Quoted from: http://www.iiyama-ouendan.net/