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00:07 Towering sculptures of ice, mysteriously glowing blue.
00:16 A winter marvel for over 40 years, thanks to the passion of the locals living around this lake.
00:26 Lake Shikotsu lies in the far north of Japan in the island of Hokkaido.
00:32 For 11 years running, this lake has come top of Japan's water quality ranking.
00:39 Its beautiful blue waters are extraordinarily pure.
00:45 In summer, Lake Shikotsu has long been a must-see for visitors to the region.
00:54 It's not just the scenery, there's also kayaking and other leisure activities.
00:59 Winters in Hokkaido are extremely cold and the heavy snow here always deterred tourists.
01:07 So about 40 years ago, the locals started thinking of ways to attract visitors in winter too.
01:19 Even when temperatures fall far below zero, the lake remains blue and free of ice.
01:24 Lake Shikotsu is so deep it never freezes over.
01:28 It's a rare sight, an ice-free lake in one of Japan's coldest regions.
01:37 These unique conditions inspire the Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival.
01:48 It takes two months to construct the sculptures.
01:51 The first month is spent erecting the frames.
01:56 For the next month, they pump water from the lake, spraying it on the frames where it freezes into towers of ice.
02:04 The blue water from Lake Shikotsu retains its hue and the ice sculptors gleam with an azure light.
02:14 Kobayashi Noriyuki has been helping build the sculptures since he was a child.
02:19 Today, he leads the production team.
02:23 Is that okay?
02:29 It looks like it might fall.
02:35 Our aim was to bring out all the beauty of this fascinating ice.
02:43 The whole team contributed ideas and we went through a lot of trial and error to get it right.
02:47 Winter in Hokkaido is really fun and I'd love to see more visitors.
02:53 Their main problem is snow.
02:57 If too much snow accumulates on the sculptures, it covers up the blue color.
03:04 There are only 13 members in the team and they work in shifts to remove the snow and keep the ice clear.
03:12 Ah!
03:14 It's back-breaking work and it has to go on around the clock.
03:21 This year they built five towering sculptures, all bigger than ever before.
03:29 It's a work of art, the unique blue waters of Lake Shikotsu displayed as frozen ice.
03:40 But the real show is at night, when the ice towers are illuminated in all their splendor.
03:45 So beautiful! I'm as excited as the first time I saw it.
03:53 Wonderful!
03:56 I love the contrast, the way the blue reflects off the white.
04:00 It's a beautiful work of art.
04:05 I love the contrast, the way the blue reflects off the white.
04:08 I'd give it 100 points out of 100 this year.
04:12 This is the first time we built five towers.
04:15 Increasing the number has made the whole atmosphere much more dramatic.
04:18 I think the effect is really powerful.
04:21 It took a unique environment and climate to produce this rare blue ice.
04:28 And it took people in tune with nature to make it into a work of art.
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