Photo: ノボホショコロトソ, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: ノボホショコロトソ, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido and the fifth-largest city in Japan, home to about 1.96 million people — the largest city anywhere north of Tokyo. Planned from scratch in the 19th century as the colonial capital of Hokkaido, it is laid out on a strict grid inspired by Kyoto's, with Odori Park — a green mile-long strip — as its axis.
The city hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics, the first ever held in Asia, and its Winter Olympics legacy still shows in the Okurayama ski jumps on the skyline. Every February the Sapporo Snow Festival fills Odori Park with monumental snow sculptures and draws more than two million visitors. In winter the city averages nearly five metres of snow a year, and it is the birthplace of miso ramen.
Today Sapporo is the undisputed centre of Hokkaido — home to Hokkaido University, the Sapporo Brewery, the famous white-chocolate Shiroi Koibito, and a food culture built for cold weather: soup curry, jingisukan lamb barbecue, and ramen alleys that stay busy late into the night.
Population: 1964034 (2025).
Photo: LR0725, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Odori Park, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0042
The mile-long green axis of Sapporo's grid, dividing the city into north and south. Main site of the Sapporo Snow Festival every February, and of the summer beer garden and autumn festivals.
Category: park
Photo: Ninosan, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Kita 1-jo Nishi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0001
A 19th-century wooden building of the former Sapporo Agricultural College, now a museum — and the city's most famous symbol.
Category: landmark
Photo: Dariusz Jemielniak ("Pundit"), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sando, Miyagaoka, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 064-0959
Hokkaido's principal shrine, built in 1871 in its current location as Sapporo Shrine. It enshrines Emperor Meiji among its kami and is the centre of the city's New Year and cherry-blossom rituals.
Category: temple
Photo: 掬茶, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Mount Moiwa, Sapporo, Hokkaido 064-0942
The mountain peak south of the city centre, reached by ropeway. Its summit offers one of Japan's great night views, looking over the illuminated grid of Sapporo.
Category: viewpoint
Kita 7-jo Higashi 9-chome, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 065-8633
The Sapporo Beer Museum in a red-brick brewery building traces the history of the Sapporo Brewery and of brewing in Hokkaido from its Meiji-era beginnings.
Category: museum
Susukino, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Hokkaido's biggest nightlife district, centred on the Susukino crossing. Home to the Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokocho, an alley lined with miso ramen shops since 1951, and the Tanuki Koji shopping arcade.
Category: district
Odori Park, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
The television tower standing in Odori Park at the centre of the grid. Its observation deck looks straight down the park's axis to the mountains.
Category: landmark
Sapporo is the birthplace of miso ramen: a rich miso-based broth, traditionally finished with butter and corn, served in the ramen alleys of Susukino.
A soupy curry with vegetables and chicken (sometimes other meats), served with rice on the side — Sapporo's signature cold-weather dish.
A barbecue of lamb, named after Genghis Khan — the grilled-meat dish most associated with Hokkaido.
White-chocolate sandwich biscuits known as 'shiroi koibito' — Sapporo's famous confectionery souvenir.
Hokkaido's cold waters deliver salmon, sea urchin and famously good crab — horsehair, snow, king and Hanasaki crab, harvested and served seasonally.
The Sapporo Municipal Subway, inaugurated in 1971 — the fourth city in Japan to get a subway — runs three lines (Namboku, Tozai, Toho) under the grid. The grid plan itself makes the centre easy to walk.
| City | Distance |
|---|---|
| Sendai | 536.1 km |
| Tokyo | 834.8 km |
| Yokohama | 860.5 km |
| Nagoya | 958.7 km |
| Kyoto | 1016.8 km |
| Osaka | 1059.3 km |
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