ASAHIKAWA, Japan – A hotel and a chapel housed in dome-shaped structures made from single, seamless pieces of ice opened Tuesday for the winter season in the Tomamu ski resort area in Hokkaido.
“We want people to enjoy the cold through the experience,” Iwao Watanabe, general manager of Hoshino Resorts Tomamu, said on the annual winter attraction in central Hokkaido, as an outdoor thermometer showed about minus 10 C.
The Ice Hotel is made by spraying water and snow onto balloons on cold nights and freezing them, creating structures about 8.5 meters in diameter and 3.5 meters high.
The lodging is limited to one group per day, with the temperature inside ranging between minus 5 C and minus 7 C. Guests staying at other hotels in the resort complex can use it for an additional fee of 28,000 yen ($177) per person. It is open until Feb. 20 and is already fully booked for the season.
The ceiling and walls are all made of ice, but sleeping bags are provided to help guests withstand the cold overnight, according to its website.
The Ice Chapel, which stands in one corner of a row of ice domes known as the Ice Village, has hosted more than 660 wedding ceremonies and marks its 20th anniversary this year.
AloJapan.com