Some parts of northern Japan witness severe winter weather and heavy snowfall.
Located in Nagano Prefecture, Liyama city has cleverly transformed heavy snow into a snow dome or "Kamakura" restaurant.
Visitors come here from across Japan to enjoy unique experiences and taste traditional dishes in the annual village of the snow dome.
The idea started twenty-two years ago when people used to shovel snow off-road and pile it into the empty fields.
To keep the kids entertained, they turned it into a snow dome. Then the idea expanded to an annual festival to attract visitors.
And with more heavy snowfall, the festival is a necessity to get rid of the excess snow. But the process of building a dome became easier thanks to clever ideas.
"We used to build snow cave by hand since we were young, but later we started using the big plastic balloons to do so. We use snow blowing machine to bury the balloon under snow then workers start shaping the dome, then we deflate the balloon and take it out. It takes about seven or eight workers to make it. First, it had a triangle shape but later became like a dome and it takes almost one hour to finish," said a village staff.
Visitors can enter the dome for free lunch and dinner. Later, these domes were converted into restaurants. The cost of renting a single dome is about thirty dollars for an hour and a half. It includes a local delicious meal.
In this nearby kitchen, women from the town prepare local dishes using mushroom, carrots, miso sauce and meat.
Then it is taken by staff to each snow dome. Project organizers are keen to present everything with local flavor so visitors can enjoy the taste of home dishes.
"I searched about Kamakura snow village on my Smartphone. So, I found the place nice and the food is great," said a visitor.
Visitors can also stay until evening to enjoy dinner in the light of candles around the snow dome.
Apart from this, there are lanterns to complete the unique tourism experience in this beautiful Japanese town.
( With inputs from ANI )
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