A town in Japan has broken the world record for building snowmen. Around 630 people at the Iiyama Snow Festival made 1,585 snowmen in one hour. The old record was 1,279 snowmen. The event was for the opening of a new bullet train station. A judge from Guinness World Records said the event was a wonderful occasion. He said although the town was being buried in snow, the residents tackled the challenge together, "in a positive light".

Guinness made strict rules. One was that each snowman had to be over 80 cm tall. They also had to be made of three snowballs, with eyes, a nose and arms. People made them with their hands. A committee member said the event suited the opening of the bullet train station. He said the record was broken because the town's people cooperated. An eight-year old said that it was a tough thing to do because the snow didn't stick together.