A Reuters video showing some of the sculptures at the 2009 Sapporo Snow Festival:

The Sapporo Snow Festival, one of Japan’s biggest tourist draws, opened on Thursday (February 5).

Thousands of tonnes of snow were carved into towering sculptures, some as high as 15 metres.

A highlight of the festival was a sculpture for Tokyo’s 2016 Olympic bid, with Japan’s Olympic hero Kosuke Kitajima engraved into it.

Photos of some of the coolest sculptures can be found at Pink Tentacle.

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