Members of the 11th Brigade of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force have built an incredible, 50 ft (15 m) tall and 75 ft (23 m) wide, Star Wars snow sculpture of Darth Vader along with some Stormstroopers, TIE fighters and the Death Star. The sculpture was created for the annual Sapporo Snow Festival and took 3,500 tons of snow and nearly a month to construct.

According to Quartz, the Japanese military has been participating in the Sapporo Snow Festival since 1955 and considers the process of building large sculptures a training exercise.

The project was approved by Lucasfilm in anticipation of the new movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which opens in theaters on December 18, 2015.

[via Quartz, My Modern Met, Sapporo Snow Festival]
 
Photograph above by Lucasfilm Ltd