I started talking to this JGSDF officer after I spotted him taking a photo of one of the displays (Crayon Shin-chan) with his cellphone to email to his wife). Although many of the soldiers based in Hokkaido are locals, this officer was from Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo. The officer (his rank equivalent to Major) explained to me how they make the sculptures and the team work building exercises that are involved. Most of the supervision is performed by junior officers or NCO's, and the festival is seen as a test of their leadership, problem solving skills and initiative.

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