さっぽろ雪まつり開幕　氷雪像１９６基、飲食ブースも再開

　北海道の冬の風物詩「さっぽろ雪まつり」が４日、札幌市で開幕した。新型コロナウイルスの影響で中止していた飲食ブースも再開。市内３会場で、雪像と氷像計１９６基が観光客らを楽しませる。期間は１１日まで。
　メインとなる大通会場では、北海道を舞台にした人気漫画「ゴールデンカムイ」をモチーフにした像や、昨年３月にオープンしたプロ野球日本ハムの球場「エスコンフィールド北海道」と新庄剛志監督の大雪像などが登場。市民が手作りする「市民雪像」も並び、円山動物園で昨年誕生したアジアゾウの「タオ」や米大リーグで活躍する大谷翔平選手の像もある。
　雪まつりは昨年、コロナ禍を経て３年ぶりの会場開催が実現し、約１７５万人が来場。一方、感染対策で飲食ブースの設置や、一部会場開催は見送られた。今年はコロナ禍以前とほぼ変わらない内容となり、実行委員会の担当者は「国内外の人に楽しんでほしい」と話している。（2024/02/04-10:39）

A popular annual snow festival started in Sapporo, the capital of the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, on Sunday, with food and drink areas set up after being canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
   This year's Sapporo Snow Festival, set to run until Feb. 11, features a total of 196 snow and ice sculptures at three venues.
   Sculptures at the main Odori venue include those themed on "Golden Kamuy," a popular manga series set in Hokkaido, and those of Es Con Field Hokkaido, the home stadium of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters professional baseball team, which opened in March 2023, and Tsuyoshi Shinjo, manager of the Fighters.
   Also on display are a sculpture of an Asian elephant born at Sapporo Maruyama Zoo last year and another of major league baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani, who played for the Fighters before starting his career in the United States.
   In 2023, the Sapporo Snow Festival took place at physical venues for the first time in three years, after a suspension brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, attracting about 1.75 million visitors. But food and drink areas were not set up, to prevent infection with the novel coronavirus.