A new retail store-cum-museum has opened in Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, Japan – a tribute to Snow Miku, a recently contrived animated character who promotes the region.

Snow Miku, born in 2010 through a snow sculpture of local ‘virtual singer’ Hatsune Miku, is a character which now exemplifies Hokkaido’s winter culture. The country’s northernmost island is a popular tourist destination for Asian tourists seeking to experience snow and snowsports.

Since 2012, the costume design for Snow Miku is chosen at an online competition everyone can participate in, and so each year Miku appears in a different wintery costume related to the annual theme. Hokkaido’s winter is brightened up not only through the character Snow Miku, but through the broader community’s creativity.

Now Snow Miku has evolved into a retail concept, with the new Chitose Airport terminal building featuring her pride of place in a large-scale entertainment complex putting together specialties from all corners of Hokkaido, including nationally known shops and restaurants. The terminal has become a one-stop solution for enjoying the entire cuisine of Hokkaido.

The newly opened section

Snow Miku Skytown is located on the fourth floor of the domestic terminal building and operated by Crypton Future Media. It features a theatre space with a 360-degree video showcasing Hokkaido’s landscape, a museum dedicated to various incarnations of Snow Miku, a retail space selling themed goods including unique items available only at the airport, and a cafe.