What to See in Sapporo - Top Sights and Attractions

Factory-turned-museum dedicated to beer. The Sapporo Beer Museum is a museum located in the Sapporo Garden Park in Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. Registered as one of the Hokkaidō Heritage sites in 2004, the museum is the only beer museum in Japan. The red-brick building was erected originally as a factory of the Sapporo Sugar Company in 1890, and later opened as a museum in July 1987. The building also houses the Sapporo Beer Garden in the south wing.^[1]

The Hokkaido University Museum opened in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan in 1999. The collection comprises some four million materials, including thirteen thousand type specimens, amassed by Hokkaido University in the hundred and fifty years since the foundation in of its predecessor, the Sapporo Agricultural College, in 1876.^[2]

Leafy green space with year-round events. Odori Park is a park located in the heart of Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Ōdōri means "large street" in Japanese. It stretches east to west through Nishi 1 chōme, Ōdōri to Nishi 12 chōme, Ōdōri, and divides the city into north and south sections. Odori Park spans about 1.5 km and covers 78,901 m². During the urban planning of Sapporo, it was originally designated as the main street but it eventually became a park. Throughout the year, many events and ceremonies such as the Sapporo Lilac Festival and the Sapporo Snow Festival are held in the park, and local landmarks including the Sapporo TV Tower and the Sapporo City Archive Museum are located within its boundaries.^[3]

Iconic tower with a viewing deck. The Sapporo TV Tower, built in 1957, is a 147.2-metre-high TV tower with an observation deck at a height of 90.38 metres. Located on the ground of Odori Park, in the northern city of Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, the tower is open to tourists. Tourists can view Sapporo and Odori Park.^[4]

Well-known clock tower with a museum. Sapporo Clock Tower is a wooden structure and tourist attraction, located at North 1 West 2, Chūō-ku, Sapporo, the largest city on the island of Hokkaidō, Japan. As of 2021, this tower is the oldest clock tower in Japan.

The building is of American design and is one of the few surviving Western-style buildings in Sapporo, a city developed in the 1870s with assistance from the American government. It is known by many as the symbol of the city and is a main feature of almost all domestic and international tours of Sapporo. The clock after which it is named continues to run and keep time, and the chimes can be heard every hour.^[5]

The Hokkaido Prefectural Board of Education is a board of education that mainly oversees public schools in Hokkaido, Japan.

The board directly oversees high schools and provides educational services in Hokkaido.^[6]

Ski resort in Sapporo, Japan. Sapporo Teine is a recreational center in Teine-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. It comprises many facilities, such as the ski resort, the Teineyama Ropeway, and the Sapporo Teine Golf Club fields.

The ski resort has a summit elevation of 1,023 metres (3,356 ft), located on Mt. Teine, in western Sapporo. Currently skiing and snowboarding can be performed here. In 1972, Mt. Teine was the site of the first Winter Olympic Games in Asia and hosted the giant slalom and slalom events in alpine skiing.^[7]

Museum in Sapporo, Japan. The Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art opened in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan in 1977. The collection includes works by Jules Pascin and the École de Paris as well as by modern Japanese artists, in particular those with a connection to Hokkaidō.

There are five related prefectural art museums elsewhere in Sapporo and Hokkaidō: Migishi Kōtarō Museum of Art, Hokkaido, Hakodate Museum of Art, Hokkaido, Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum of Art, Hokkaido Obihiro Museum of Art, and Kushiro Art Museum, Hokkaido.^[8]

Racecourse in Sapporo, Japan. Sapporo Racecourse is located in Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. It was built in 1907 for horse racing use. It has 12,000 seats, with a capacity of 30,000.

Sapporo Racecourse hosts one GII (Grade 2) race, the Sapporo Kinen.^[9]

Modern Noguchi-designed city park. Moerenuma Park is a municipal park in Sapporo, Japan. It has playground equipment, outdoor sports fields, and objects that are designed by Isamu Noguchi, a Japanese American artist. Visitors can enter the park and use the parking lot for free. Construction began in 1988; the park opened in 2005. It won a number of awards including the Good Design Award in 2002.^[10]

Park in Sapporo, Japan. Sapporo Art Park is an open-air complex of sites in Minami-ku, Sapporo, dedicated to visual and performing art exhibits and facilities. Constructed in 1986, the park was established "to cultivate unique new culture in Sapporo and create an environment in which the city, the arts, and culture exist in harmony with Sapporo’s natural beauty." The park is situated in the forests on the outskirts of Sapporo, close to Sapporo City University. In addition to art and sculpture displays, the park also rents out workshops, studios, and other spaces for creative arts.^[11]

Mount Moiwa is a mountain located about 5 km southwest of the center of Sapporo, Hokkaido and 6 km southwest of Sapporo Station. A ropeway and a motorway pass through Mt. Moiwa, and an observatory and a ski resort in winter make it a resort for Sapporo citizens and tourists.^[12]

Stadium in Sapporo, Japan. Sapporo Dome is a stadium located in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, and is primarily used for baseball and association football. It is the home field of the baseball team Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the association football club Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo. It was a football venue for the 2020 Summer Olympics, was the venue for the opening ceremony of the 2017 Asian Winter Games, and was used for 2 matches of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The stadium was previously a venue of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The dome will be used as a stadium for the 2030 Winter Olympics if Sapporo is successful in their bid.^[13]

1869 Shinto shrine to 4 deities. The Hokkaidō Shrine, named the Sapporo Shrine until 1964, is a Shinto shrine located in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Sited in Maruyama Park, Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, the Hokkaido Shrine enshrines four kami including the soul of the Emperor Meiji. A number of early explorers of Hokkaidō such as Mamiya Rinzō are also enshrined.^[14]

Museum in Sapporo, Japan. Historical Village of Hokkaido is an open-air museum in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. It opened in the Nopporo Shinrin Kōen Prefectural Natural Park in 1983. It includes fifty-two historical structures from the "frontier days" of the Meiji period to the Shōwa period that have been relocated and reconstructed or recreated, divided into four zones: town, fishing village, farming village, and mountain village.^[16]

Zoo in Sapporo, Japan. Sapporo Maruyama Zoo is a municipal zoo in Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. It opened on May 5, 1951.

The zoo is located within Maruyama Park in western Sapporo, and is the oldest zoo in Hokkaido.^[18]

Stadium in Sapporo, Japan. The Miyanomori Ski Jump Stadium, also known as the Miyanomori-Schanze is a ski jumping venue located in the Miyanomori area in Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. The stadium has hosted a number of winter sports events including 1972 Winter Olympics and FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007.^[19]

Arena in Sapporo, Japan. Makomanai Sekisui Heim Ice Arena is an indoor ice skating arena in Minami-ku, Sapporo, Japan. It was built in December, 1970, holds 11,500 people, and has an area of 10,133 m² in total.

The figure skating and some of the ice hockey games and the closing ceremonies from the 1972 Winter Olympics were held at this arena.^[20]