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          Shohei Ohtani snow sculpture featured at festival in Japan

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          • J.J. PostFeb 5, 2025, 12:31 AM

          You've seen athletes depicted in stone statues. But how about snow?

          At the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan, among the sculptures at the festival is none other than Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani.

          The Sapporo Snow Festival is an annual weeklong event that dates to 1950 in Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's main islands. The festival features around 200 sculptures, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

          It's not the first time Ohtani and his dog, Decoy -- depicted on Ohtani's shoulder in this year's sculpture -- have made an appearance at the festival. The duo was portrayed last year with a sculpture of Decoy looking up at a smiling Ohtani.

          Ohtani isn't the only Japanese baseball star to have been honored with a sculpture at the festival. Former New York Yankees slugger Hideki Matsui was featured in 2004, fresh off his rookie MLB season in New York.