Yokote Kamakura Festival – Snow Dome Festival, Akita, Japan
Festival in Yokote with lots of small snow houses.
Thanks to Aki:)
The Yokote Kamakura Festival (横手の雪まつり, Yokote no Yuki Matsuri) has a history of about 450 years. It is held every year on February 15 and 16 in the city of Yokote in southeastern Akita Prefecture. The festival features many igloo-like snow houses, called kamakura, which are built at various locations across the city.
How to get to Yokote
Via Omagari
Yokote and Omagari are connected by hourly local trains along the JR Ou Line (20 minutes, 330 yen). Omagari Station can be reached by the Akita Shinkansen from Tokyo (3.5 hours, about 17,500 yen) or from Sendai (2 hours, about 9,500 yen). The train rides are covered by the Japan Rail Pass, the JR East Tohoku Area Pass and the JR East South Hokkaido Pass.
Via Kitakami (how to get to Kitakami)
Yokote and Kitakami Stations are connected by local trains along the JR Kitakami Line (80 minutes, 1170 yen, one departure every two hours). When coming from Tokyo or Sendai, this approach is considerably cheaper, but slower and less frequent than the detour via Omagari explained above.