Home / Travel_改版1 / Travel -- Where to go Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read | Comment
Snowball Fights Bring Fun, Tourists to Small Town in N. Japan
Adjust font size:  ZoomIn ZoomOut

Fighting with snowballs is a privilege given to those living in places where winter is really wintry. In Sobetsu, Hokkaido of northern Japan, it has grown into a competitive sport of nearly 20 years of age.

 

The annual tournament of snowball fights, or Yukigassen, as called in Japanese (where "yuki" means snow and "gassen" means battle), is the 19th of its kind held in Showa Shinzan volcano in Sobetsu. A total of 152 teams from around Japan and 3 teams with foreign players joined the fighting this year held on Saturday and Sunday.

 

"We like to play baseball in summer, and in winter, we love the Yukigassen," a player from Sapporo, Hokkaido said, noting that both sports need accuration and quick response.

 

According to official rules of the game, fourteen players battle in a court 40 meters long and 10 meters wide. Four forwards attack, while three guards defend the flag in the center. Players behind a 90-centimeter tall snow wall pop up and fire snowballs at the opposing team, also behind a snow fort.

 

Any player hit by a snowball is out. A team loses when all of its players are eliminated, or if the opposing team captures its flag from the center of the court. Each set lasts three minutes, and the first team to win two sets takes the match.

 

"The sport is also played in parts of Finland and Norway, but it was actually born here," Tadashi Iori, assistant director of the tournament committee said, adding "the rules were decided here and we local people also invented the machine to make standard snowballs for the game."

 

Players can make their own ammunition by putting compressed snow into the machine and stamping it with feet before they get a full plate of standard snowballs 6.5 to 7.0 centimeters in diameters. The design of the machine was inspired by the making of a kind of seafood ball snack in Japan.

 

"Turning snowball fighting into a sport is aimed at boosting winter tourism," Iori said. "The Showa Shinzan volcano, Toya lake and hot springs in the area attract many visitors in summer," said Yamada, who has been a taxi driver for 30 years around the region, adding"but in winter, as there is no outstanding skiing place around, all depends on the Yukigassen."

 

"Those small hotels used to be empty in winter before the snowball fights game started in 1989," Yamada said, adding"in recent winters, they have been packed with players and visitors."

 

In recent years, over 20,000 visitors came to the tournament annually, which is the largest of its kind in Japan.

 

"Foreign players are few, compared with Japanese ones in the tournament. There are around 2,500 Yukigassen teams across Japan and some 20 prefectures have their own Yukigassen associations," Iori said.

 

Well developed as the sport is, it may have to face a new problem as winter is getting warmer in many parts of the world." The amount of snow were one third less than usual, so we have to move some 500 tons of snow from else where to the battlefield," Iori added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2007)

 

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read
Comment
Pet Name
Anonymous
China Archives
Related >>
- The Train Journey to Tibet, Not Just Destination
- On the Tibet-Sichuan Highway
- Journey to Top of the World
- 24 Hours in Macau
- Ice Castles
Most Viewed >>

Product Directory
China Search
Country Search
Hot Buys
主站蜘蛛池模板: 风间由美性色一区二区三区 | 中国内地毛片免费高清| 日韩视频免费一区二区三区| 亚洲成熟人网站| 色视频www在线播放国产人成| 国精品午夜福利视频不卡| 久久精品国产亚洲AV蜜臀色欲 | 精品久久久久久久久久中文字幕| 国产激情无码一区二区app| 97久久精品无码一区二区| 好男人在线社区www| 中国大陆高清aⅴ毛片| 日本午夜免费福利视频| 亚洲第一网站免费视频| 疯狂做受XXXX国产| 午夜网站在线观看免费网址免费| 色欲aⅴ亚洲情无码AV| 国产亚洲综合色就色| 67194线路1(点击进入)手机版| 天堂网在线观看| 丰满的奶水边做边喷| 欧美人妻精品一区二区三区 | 俄罗斯大荫蒂女人毛茸茸| 韩国无遮挡羞羞漫画| 国产精品黄页在线播放免费 | 国产精品视频全国免费观看| 七仙女欲春3一级裸片在线播放 | 国产精品久久久久久影视| 中文在线观看永久免费| 日本乱理伦电影在线| 久久永久免费人妻精品| 欧美激情一级二级三级在线视频| 人妖在线精品一区二区三区| 被夫上司强迫的女人在线中文| 国产精品毛片a∨一区二区三区 | 黄在线观看www免费看| 国产精品www| 五月天综合网站| 国产第一福利136视频导航| 永久免费视频网站在线观看| 国产精品毛片无遮挡|