Hokkaido starts to snow from November and by the beginning of the following year, the whole world is dressed in silver, with guests from around the globe coming to enjoy the snow in an endless stream.
Sapporo, as the administrative center and largest city of Hokkaido, has an even greater number of tourists.
January is the time when the snow is the heaviest, and since the Sapporo Snow Festival is held in the first week of February every year, it is also the time when Sapporo is most crowded.
The Sapporo Snow Festival, which has been held since 1950, is known as one of the four largest snow festivals in the world.
It was right before this grand event was about to start, during the time of the year when the flow of people in Sapporo is at its peak, that Nakamura Shinichi arrived at the Hokkaido Police Headquarters to report for duty.
