See snowmen of all shapes and sizes at Shiramine and Kuwajima, deep in the mountain valleys of Ishikawa's Hakusan region.
For just a limited time every February, this festival with over 20 year's history takes place on a Friday primarily to avoid the crowds in this small town getting too big – though the succeeding weekend still promises lots to see, with over 3,000 snowmen decorating the town's snowy streets, with students from across the prefecture helping create them.
Based at foot of Mount Hakusan, Shiramine is an idyllic village covered in snow during the winter months, with neighbouring Kuwajima also getting in on the action too, the weekend before.
Proceedings generally kick-off around 3pm, with the main candlelight illuminations starting from 5pm.
