Sapporo Snow Festival opens amid coronavirus fears, warm winter english.kyodonews.net

KYODO NEWS - 19 minutes ago - 11:58 | All, JapanThe annual Snow Festival began in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo on Tuesday, hit by fears over the coronavirus outbreak and soaring costs involved in transporting snow to the site amid a warm winter.
At total of some 200 sculptures of various sizes are on display at three venues.
"Japanese tourists are also avoiding crowds this year over fears of getting infected," an organizing committee member said on the impact of the virus outbreak.
The Sapporo education board said many of the city's elementary schools have decided not to visit the festival this year.
At the Tsudome site, one of the festival's three venues, a 70-meter-long snow slide was on display -- 30 meters shorter than usual due to the lack of snow.