Sapporo has its snow festival and now Tottori has what could be dubbed a “sand festival” of creations sculpted from the sands of the Tottori dunes.

Among the works on display are an elaborate 19-by-4 meter sand reproduction of St. Peter’s Basilica, a 3.2-meter-high sand sculpture of Michelangelo’s sculpture “Pieta”, and a 4.4-by-2.4 meter sand work reproducing Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “Annunciation.”
The works were created by 1999 world sand sculpting champion Katsuhiko Chaen and sand sculptors from Italy. The creations are illuminated each evening through January 3.