The contents of the wooden boxes lined up in a row are... snow. Seventy tons in all. It is coming to central Tokyo on the weekend of the 19th and 20th.
This is the 12th "Kanda Ogawamachi Snowman Fair." The venue is a little over 10 minutes' walk from Palaceside Building. Along the Yasukuni-dōri sidewalk from Ogawamachi toward Jimbocho, more than 20 giant snowmen made from snow trucked in from Tsumagoi Village in Gunma Prefecture, Chiyoda Ward's sister city, will stand in a row. They are said to reach 2 meters in height and 1 ton in weight. At the Kanda Ogawa Plaza event site (3-6 Kanda Ogawamachi, Chiyoda Ward), snow slides and kamakura also appear, with sledding, snow play, games, and more.
This event began in 2002 when ski shops lining the Ogawamachi area wanted to revitalize the neighborhood, and it has become a winter tradition.
Main events on Yasukuni-dōri include the Grand Prize Draw＝both days 12:00–18:00, free hotel stays in Tsumagoi, free lift tickets, local products, and more for 9,000 people ▽ Manza Onsen foot bath delivered direct＝both days 13:00–18:00, photo right is last year ▽ and others. At Ogawa Plaza: treasure hunt＝both days 14:00–15:00 ▽ children's snow play area＝both days 10:00–16:00 ▽ big snow slide＝same, photos bottom left and right are last year ▽ kamakura experience＝same, photo top is last year ▽ Kanzawa Onsen foot bath delivered direct＝same ▽ goods and food corner＝both days 11:00–15:00, etc. There is also a snowman contest on Yasukuni-dōri. Voting at Ogawa Plaza on the 19th 13:00–16:00 and the 20th 10:00–11:30. Voters receive nice gifts, they say＝photos bottom left show last year's grand prize with crane and turtle motifs.
This event began in 2002 when ski shops around Ogawamachi wanted to "revitalize the town"
A Facebook page opened a year ago shows last year's event day and preparations since late last year, including scenes from Tsumagoi (https://www.facebook.com/kanda.yukidaruma). You can really see how hard the organizers work.
Though it has fully settled in as a winter tradition, media coverage has shrunk in recent years—but the 2004 Tokyo edition of The Mainichi Newspapers included this passage:
"The village aims to promote tourism, but it is hard work. Making wooden molds and packing snow for the snowmen. Village snow is powdery and hard to compact, unsuitable for snowmen, so it must be mixed constantly while packed into molds. On festival day, trucks left the village at 1:00 a.m. The receiving side waited for the snow, shivering in the cold. They arrived at 4:00 a.m. A ramen shop madam in Kanda prepared tea and light food and warmed the shop to welcome the villagers who had gone to such trouble"
This year too, the first convoy from Tsumagoi left before dawn on the 18th, and snowman making began that afternoon with the arrived snow, according to Facebook. Tokyo still has snow left from the 14th, but Tsumagoi's snow should be on another scale in both quality and quantity. (Photos from organizer Facebook, Chiyoda Ward Tourism Association website, etc.)