It’s snow festival time again at Sapporo, on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, and visitors from all over Japan and many from distant lands are in the city to see the ice spectacular.The festival is held annually to display the works of Japanese ice sculptors, and their creations this year feature huge monsters from Japanese movie and TV thrillers.

A children’s snow playground at the nearby Makomanai Japan Defense Force base attracts the kids with its playful monsters that the children can climb over and slide down.