Hokkaido Ice Pavilion — Attraction in Kamikawa

I have to say they do very good marketing - from the -41oC room (which is basically a fan blasting colder air at you); the swinging of a wet towel; the 10 second slide; the many many instagrammable backgrounds; the amazing hospitality from tea, biscuits, spectacle warmer to the amazing uncle who introduce you to the place with his jovial hospitality.

If you go in with the expectation of seeing how beautiful they can make the interior of a -20oC freezer and to see the uncle, it is actually quite a fun experience. No snow ball fights to be have inside here, just a 10 second slide - a quick drop and that's it. Estimated duration in the freezer was actually only like 15minutes in the cold room because the jackets and gloves lent to you were not made for experiencing below 0oC but rather people working in and out of a giant freezer - which is essentially what you are doing. If they continue to maintain or upgrade all those ice sculptures, this would be a recommended place to drop by and escape the sweltering heat of summer.

Ample parking space, pity it is not as popular; but then again we really enjoyed having the entire freezer...

Run by a very enthusiastic couple, while definitely marketed towards children, the -21 degree Celsius hallway is no joke.

Despite being equipped for -10 degree weather, we were definitely being pushed to the limits. Some people challenge the route naked, crazy.

There is a room where you can optionally choose to shower yourself in -41 degree air for people feeling extra spicy.

You get treated to a warm cup of tea and a biscuit at the end for surviving. The theme park also features a snow slide where you ride on pan lid like object. The slide already felt like an uncontrollable harrowing ordeal and the manager points at this wooden plank at the top which appeared to be nearly a straight drop and asked if we wanted to try.

After some encouraging from them we gave in and gave it a shot. We thought we would fly off the curve of the slide but we didn’t, although we did get covered in snow. It was still a very fun experience.

Would recommend going out of your way to visit...

We started with activity colouring some pictures before entering the exhibits. The colour vanished under heating and it returned when we got into the ice room. We received a towel which turns hard after some time when we are inside the pavilion. The -40degree room wasn't that appealing probably because we are all geared up as it was winter time when we visit. The rest area which is supposed to allow those who feel cold to get some warm don't seems to be effective. There is a free cup of hot tea for everyone after we finished our tour. Overall, place was quite small for the price but assume the maintenance cost is high. Activities were...