Now are you ready for the highlight of the whole experience? You can take the Ice Pavilion Challenge by stripping off and braving -41°C au naturel. If you get someone to take your photo, you’ll be able to join other fearless (or just daft?) heroes on the wall of fame.
On the way out, you’ll be given a much-needed cup of hot tea and a cookie. You can also take a look at a tank of ‘ice angels’ – beautiful semi-transparent sea slugs with delicate wings. They live under the drift ice in the sea north of Hokkaido, but they look more like they come from another planet.
The ice pavilion is open 8:30am to 5:30pm every day of the year, though there seems to be more point in going during summer. It’s twenty minute’s walk from Kamikawa Station, which is two hours and twenty-two minutes from Sapporo on a direct train