Sapporo Travel Guides

Reference WW40007

The most remarkable thing about the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, and its capital city Sapporo is the contrast in temperatures between winter and summer.

As a result of the thick snows that turns the city into a winter wonderland during the winter months, Sapporo is favoured more as a winter sports destination than a spring or summer resort. There are ski-slopes within the city limits and residents often enjoy a quick run after work. Sapporo is one of Japan's newest cities, having been constructed almost from scratch as the capital of Hokkaido in 1871.

Sightseeing in Sapporo

Sapporo Snow Festival, Art Park, Sapporo Beer Museum, Botanical Gardens, Susukino entertainment district for nightlife. The Historical Village of Hokkaido 14km east of the city contains a collection of historic buildings from all over Hokkaido brought to this spot and makes for a good day-trip from Sapporo.

Walking south-west from the modern Sapporo Station building and JR Tower, which was opened in 2003, brings you to the Old Hokkaido Government Building (known affectionately to local residents as akarenga or "Red Bricks").

Walking back east and one cross street south along Kita Ichijo Avenue will bring you to another symbol of Sapporo - the Sapporo Clock Tower (Tokeidai) originally built in 1878 as a military drill hall for Sapporo Agricultural College - present-day Hokkaido University - on the recommendation of William Wheeler, the next Vice-president of the college following William Clark. The Clock Tower is now a museum dedicated to the history of the building and the lives and work of the early graduates and teachers of Sapporo Agricultural College.

Sapporo Snow Festival

Deep in the Hokkaido winter, one event has visitors flocking to the city of Sapporo, braving the subzero temperatures for a week of icy fun and excitement.

The Sapporo Snow Festival in Sapporo now attracts more than two million people every year to Hokkaido making it one of the biggest events of Japan's festival calendar. From humble beginnings, it has certainly come a long way.

It was in 1950 that a group of high school children created six imaginative snow sculptures in Sapporo's Odori Park. The sculptures attracted an unexpected amount of attention and gradually it became a custom for the people of Sapporo to build sculptures there every year.