( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is the largest city north of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and the largest city on

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city in Japan. It is the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture and Ishikari Subprefecture. Sapporo lies in the southwest of Hokkaido, within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, which is a tributary stream of the

Ishikari is a city located in Ishikari Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of April 30, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 58,755, with 27,434 households, and a density of 81 persons per km2. The total area is . On October 1, 2005, the vill ...

. It is considered the cultural, economic, and political center of Hokkaido. As with most of Hokkaido, the Sapporo area was settled by the indigenous

Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...

people, beginning over 15,000 years ago. Starting in the late 19th century, Sapporo saw increasing settlement by

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial House of Japan. Japanese his ...

migrants. Sapporo hosted the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

, the first Winter Olympics ever held in Asia, and the second Olympic games held in Japan after the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

. Sapporo is currently bidding for the

2030 Winter Olympics The 2030 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXVI Olympic Winter Games, is an upcoming international multi-sport event. The host city was initially set to be elected at the 140th IOC Session in Mumbai in 2023, but IOC officials declared in ...

. The Sapporo Dome hosted three games during the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

and two games during the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

. Additionally, Sapporo has hosted the Asian Winter Games three times, in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and the

1991 Winter Universiade The 1991 Winter Universiade, the XV Winter Universiade, took place in Sapporo, Japan. Venues Medal table {{Universiade 1991 U Winter Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes b ...

. The annual

Sapporo Snow Festival The is a festival held annually in Sapporo, Japan, over seven days in February. Odori Park, Susukino, and Tsudome are the main sites of the festival. In 2007 (57th festival), about two million people visited Sapporo to see the hundreds of s ...

draws more than 2 million tourists from abroad. Other notable sites include the Sapporo Beer Museum, which is the only beer museum in Japan, and the

Sapporo TV Tower The , built in 1957, is a 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 ...

located in

Odori Park is a park located in the heart of Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. means "large street" in Japanese. It stretches east to west through Nishi 1 chōme, Ōdōri to Nishi 12 chōme, Ōdōri ("Nishi" means west, and "chōme" is a block in Japanese), and d ...

. It is home to Hokkaido University, just north of Sapporo Station. The city is served by Okadama Airport and New Chitose Airport in nearby Chitose.

Etymology

Sapporo's name was taken from Ainuic ''sat poro pet'' (), which can be translated as the "dry, great river", a reference to the Toyohira River.

History

Early history

Before its establishment, the area occupied by Sapporo (known as the Ishikari Plain) was home to a number of indigenous

settlements. In 1866, at the end of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, construction began on a canal through the area, encouraging a number of early settlers to establish Sapporo village. In 1868, the officially recognized year celebrated as the "birth" of Sapporo, the new Meiji government concluded that the existing administrative center of Hokkaido, which at the time was the port of

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...

, was in an unsuitable location for defense and further development of the island. As a result, it was determined that a new capital on the Ishikari Plain should be established. The plain itself provided an unusually large expanse of flat, well-drained land which is relatively uncommon in the otherwise mountainous geography of Hokkaido. During 1870–1871,

Kuroda Kiyotaka Count , also known as , was a Japanese politician of the Meiji era. He was Prime Minister of Japan from 1888 to 1889. He was also vice chairman of the Hokkaido Development Commission ( Kaitaku-shi). Biography As a Satsuma ''samurai'' Kur ...

, vice-chairman of the Hokkaido Development Commission (Kaitaku-shi), approached the American government for assistance in developing the land. As a result,

Horace Capron Horace Capron (August 31, 1804 – February 22, 1885) was an American businessman and agriculturalist, a founder of Laurel, Maryland, a Union officer in the American Civil War, the United States Secretary of Agriculture under U.S. Presiden ...

Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments. The department includes several organi ...

under President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

, became an '' oyatoi gaikokujin'' and was appointed as a special advisor to the commission. Construction began around

, which still remains as a green ribbon of recreational land bisecting the central area of the city. The city closely followed a

grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogona ...

with streets at right-angles to form city blocks. The continuing expansion of the Japanese into Hokkaido continued, mainly due to migration from the main island of

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

immediately to the south, and the prosperity of Hokkaido and particularly its capital grew to the point that the Development Commission was deemed unnecessary and was abolished in 1882. In 1871, the

Hokkaidō Shrine The , named the 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 ex ...

was built in its current location as the Sapporo Shrine.

Edwin Dun Edwin Dun (June 19, 1848 – May 15, 1931) was a rancher from Ohio who was employed as an ''o-yatoi gaikokujin'' in Hokkaidō by the Hokkaidō Development Commission (''Kaitakushi'') and advised the Japanese government on modernizing agricu ...

came to Sapporo to establish sheep and cattle ranches in 1876. He also demonstrated pig raising and the making of butter, cheese, ham and sausage. He was married twice, to Japanese women. He once went back to the US in 1883 but returned to Japan as a secretary of government.

William S. Clark William Smith Clark (July 31, 1826 – March 9, 1886) was an American professor of chemistry, botany and zoology, a colonel during the American Civil War, and a leader in agricultural education. Raised and schooled in Easthampton, Massachuse ...

, who was the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

), came to be the founding vice-president of the Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University) for only eight months from 1876 to 1877. He taught academic subjects in science and lectured on the Bible as an "ethics" course, introducing Christian principles to the first entering class of the college. In 1880, the entire area of Sapporo was renamed as "Sapporo-ku" (Sapporo Ward), and a railroad between Sapporo and Temiya, Otaru was laid. That year the Hōheikan, a hotel and reception facility for visiting officials and dignitaries, was built adjacent to the Odori Park. It was later moved to

Nakajima Park is a city park in Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. The park has a lake, two streams, a museum, a concert hall, an observatory, a historical building housing a tea shop, and several lawns and forests. At the south end, there are two shrines. ...

where it remains today. Two years later, with the abolition of the Kaitaku-shi, Hokkaidō was divided into three prefectures: Hakodate, Sapporo, and Nemuro. The name of the urban district in Sapporo remained Sapporo-ku, while the rest of the area in Sapporo-ku was changed to Sapporo-gun. The office building of Sapporo-ku was also located in the urban district. Sapporo, Hakodate, and Nemuro Prefectures were abolished in 1886, and Hokkaidō government office building, an American- neo-baroque-style structure with red bricks, constructed in 1888. The last squad of the Tondenhei, the soldiers pioneering Hokkaido, settled in the place where the area of Tonden in

Kita-ku, Sapporo is a ward of Sapporo composed of residential neighborhoods mostly arranged in grid patterns, and each built surrounding a train station, broken up by areas of farmland and some light-industrial areas. With 260,000 people, it is the most popula ...

is currently located. Sapporo-ku administered surrounding Sapporo-gun until 1899, when the new district system was announced. After that year, Sapporo-ku was away from the control of Sapporo-gun. The "ku" (district) enforced from 1899 was an autonomy which was a little bigger than towns, and smaller than cities. In Hokkaido at that time, Hakodate-ku and Otaru-ku also existed. File:明治24年札幌中心部.jpg, Sapporo city map in 1891, showing the city's grid plan File:Kiyotaka_Kuroda_formal.jpg,

File:Hokkaido Jingu.JPG, The

Maruyama Park is a park in Kyoto, Japan. It is noted as the main center for cherry blossom viewing in Kyoto, and can get extremely crowded at that time of year (April). The park's star attraction is a weeping cherry tree (''shidarezakura'') which becomes li ...

20th century

In 1907, the

Tohoku Imperial University , or is a Japanese national university located in Sendai, Miyagi in the Tōhoku Region, Japan. It is informally referred to as . Established in 1907, it was the third Imperial University in Japan and among the first three Designated National ...

was established in

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...

, and Sapporo Agricultural College was controlled by the university. Parts of neighbouring villages including Sapporo Village, Naebo Village, Kami Shiroishi Village, and districts where the Tonden-hei had settled, were integrated into Sapporo-ku in 1910. The Sapporo Streetcar was opened in 1918, and Hokkaido Imperial University was established in Sapporo-ku, as the fifth Imperial University in Japan. Another railroad operated in Sapporo, the Jōzankei Railroad, which was ultimately abolished in 1969. In 1922, the new city system was announced by the Tokyo government, and Sapporo-ku was officially changed to Sapporo City. The Sapporo Municipal Bus System was started in 1930. In 1937, Sapporo was chosen as the site of the

1940 Winter Olympics The 1940 Winter Olympics, which would have been officially known as the and as Sapporo 1940 (札幌1940), were to have been celebrated from 3 to 12 February 1940 in Sapporo, Japan, but the games were eventually cancelled due to the onset of Wo ...

, but due to the outbreak of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, this was cancelled the next year. Maruyama Town was integrated as a part of Chūō-ku in 1940, and the Okadama Airport was constructed in 1942. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the city was bombed by American naval aircraft in July 1945. The first

was held in 1950. In the same year, adjacent Shiroishi Village was integrated into Sapporo City, rendered as a part of Shiroishi-ku, and Atsubetsu-ku. In 1955, Kotoni Town, the entire Sapporo Village, and Shinoro Village were merged into Sapporo, becoming a part of the current Chūō-ku, Kita-ku, Higashi-ku, Nishi-ku, and Teine-ku. The expansion of Sapporo continued, with the merger of Toyohira Town in 1961, and Teine Town in 1967, each becoming a part of Toyohira-ku, Kiyota-ku, and Teine-ku. The ceremony commemorating the 100th anniversary of the foundation of Sapporo and Hokkaido was held in 1968. The

Sapporo Municipal Subway The is a mostly-underground rubber-tyred rapid transit system in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Operated by the Sapporo City Transportation Bureau, it is the only subway system on the island of Hokkaido. Lines The system consists of three lines: ...

system was inaugurated in 1971, which made Sapporo the fourth city in Japan to have a subway system. From February 3 to 13, 1972, the

were held, the first Winter Olympics held in Asia. On April 1 of the same year, Sapporo was designated as one of the cities designated by government ordinance, and seven wards were established. The last public performance by the opera singer,

Maria Callas Maria Callas . (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel cant ...

, was in Sapporo at the Hokkaido Koseinenkin Kaikan on 11 November 1974. The Sapporo Municipal Subway was expanded when the Tōzai line started operation in 1976, and the Tōhō line was opened in 1988. In 1989, Atsubetsu-ku and Teine-ku were separated from Shiroishi-ku and Nishi-ku. Annual events in Sapporo were started, such as the Pacific Music Festival in 1990, and Yosakoi Sōran Festival in 1992. A professional football club, Consadole Sapporo, was established in 1996. In 1997, Kiyota-ku was separated from Toyohira-ku. In the same year, Hokkaidō Takushoku Bank, a Hokkaido-based bank with headquarters in Odori, went bankrupt. File:Sapporo-City-1918-Taisho-Era.png, Sapporo City, Taisho era, 1918 File:Odori Park in 1936.JPG, Odori Park in 1936 File:Hokkaido Prefectural Office02s5s4272.jpg, The

Former Hokkaido Government Office Building A former is an object, such as a template, gauge or cutting die, which is used to form something such as a boat's hull. Typically, a former gives shape to a structure that may have complex curvature. A former may become an integral part of the ...

File:Sapporo TV Tower 20070812.jpg, The

was built in 1957.

21st century

2008 G8 Summit Antiglobalist Demonstration March

In 2001 the construction of the Sapporo Dome was completed, and in 2002 the Dome hosted three games during the

; Germany vs Saudi Arabia, Argentina vs England and Italy vs Ecuador, all of which were in the first round. Fumio Ueda, was elected as Sapporo mayor for the first time in 2003. Sapporo became the home to a

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

team, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, in 2004, which won the

2006 Japan Series The Japan Series, the 57th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's championship series, began on October 21 and ended on October 26, and matched the Central League champion Chunichi Dragons against the Pacific League champion, Hokkaido Nippon ...

, and the victory parade was held on Ekimae-Dōri (a street in front of Sapporo Station) in February 2007. The

34th G8 summit The 34th G8 summit was held in the town of Tōyako, Hokkaido, Japan, on July 7–9, 2008. The locations of previous summits hosted by Japan include Tokyo (1979, 1986, 1993) and Nago, Okinawa (2000). The G8 Summit has evolved beyond being a gatheri ...

took place in Tōyako in 2008, and a number of people including

anti-globalization The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...

activists marched in the heart of the city to protest. Police officers were gathered in Sapporo from all over Japan, and the news reported that four people were arrested in the demonstrations. The Hokkaidō Shinkansen line, which currently connects

through the

Seikan Tunnel The Seikan Tunnel ( ja, 青函トンネル, or , ), is a dual-gauge railway tunnel in Japan, with a portion under the seabed of the Tsugaru Strait, which separates Aomori Prefecture on the main Japanese island of Honshu from the northern isla ...

, is planned to link to Sapporo by 2030.

Geography

Indicator map for Ishikari and Sorachi Subprefecture in Hokkaido Japan

Sapporo is a city located in the southwest part of Ishikari Plain and the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary stream of the Ishikari River. It is part of Ishikari Subprefecture. Roadways in the urban district are laid to make a grid plan. The western and southern parts of Sapporo are occupied by a number of mountains including Mount Teine, Maruyama, and

Mount Moiwa is a mountain located about southwest of the center of Sapporo, Hokkaido and southwest of Sapporo Station. A ropeway Ropeway may refer to: Cable transport * Cableway, or cable transport, a broad class of transport modes that have cables * A ...

, as well as many rivers including the Ishikari River, Toyohira River, and Sōsei River. Sapporo has an elevation of . Sapporo has many parks, including Odori Park, which is located in the heart of the city and hosts a number of annual events and festivals throughout the year.

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 be ...

is also one of the largest parks in Sapporo, and was constructed under the plan of Isamu Noguchi, a Japanese-American artist and landscape architect. Neighbouring cities are

, Ebetsu, Kitahiroshima, Eniwa, Chitose, Otaru, Date, and adjoining towns are Tōbetsu, Kimobetsu, Kyōgoku.

Wards

Sapporo currently has ten ''.

Cityscape

File:SapporoCity Skylines2020.jpg, Sapporo City Skyline from

Asahiyama Memorial Park is a park located in Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. The park's peak, at above sea level, offers a great panoramic view of Sapporo, and the Sea of Japan beyond. History Prior to the construction of Maruyama Park, the area was the site ...

(2020) File:SapporoCity CBD.jpg,

Central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

of Sapporo City（2020） File:Susukino, Sapporo at night on July 17th, 2018.jpg,

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Susukino is a red-light district in Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is one of the major red-light districts in Japan along with Kabukichō, Tokyo, and Nakasu, Fukuoka. Currently, the district is congested with many restaurants, bars, hotels, and ...

（2018） File:Sapporo view of city from Sapporo TV tower - 2016 08 14.ogg, View of the city from above (2016) File:Hokkaido_University.jpg, A view of Sapporo city and Hokkaidō University (2009)

Climate

Sapporo has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

( Köppen: ''Dfa''), with a wide range of temperature between the summer and winter. Summers are generally warm and humid, but not oppressively hot, and winters are cold and very snowy, with an average snowfall of per year. Sapporo is one of few metropolises in the world with such heavy snowfall, enabling it to hold events and festivals with snow statues. The heavy snowfall is due to the Siberian High developing over the Eurasian land mass and the Aleutian Low developing over the northern Pacific Ocean, resulting in a flow of cold air southeastward across Tsushima Current and to western Hokkaido. The city's annual average precipitation is around , and the mean annual temperature is . The highest temperature ever recorded in Sapporo was on 7 August 1994. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 1 February 1929.

Demographics

The first census of the population of Sapporo was taken in 1873, when 753 families with a total of 1,785 people were recorded in the town. The city has an estimated population of 1,957,914 as of May 31, 2019 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of 1,746 persons per km² (4,500 persons per mi²). The total area is .

Economy

Sapporo Metropolitan Employment Area 2015

The tertiary sector dominates Sapporo's industry. Major industries include information technology, retail, and tourism, as Sapporo is a destination for winter sports and events and summer activities due to its comparatively cool climate. The city is also the manufacturing centre of Hokkaido, manufacturing various goods such as food and related products, fabricated metal products, steel, machinery, beverages, and pulp and paper. The Sapporo Breweries, founded in 1876, is a major company and employer in the city. Hokkaido International Airlines (Air Do) is headquartered in Chūō-ku. In April 2004,

Air Nippon Network , or A-net, was an airline based on the grounds of Tokyo International Airport in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan. It operated feeder services for parent Air Nippon, itself a subsidiary of All Nippon Airways (ANA). Its main base was New Chitose Airport. ...

was headquartered in Higashi-ku. Other companies headquartered in Sapporo include

Crypton Future Media , or simply Crypton, is a Japanese media company based in Sapporo, Japan. It develops, imports, and sells products for music, such as sound generator software, sampling CDs and DVDs, and sound effect and background music libraries. The company al ...

DB-Soft was a Japanese software development company that was in business from 1980 to 2003 based in Sapporo, Hokkaido. They started as a video game developer, releasing titles for various home computer platforms (including the Family Computer), but su ...

, Hokkaido Air System, and

Royce' , stylized as ROYCE', is a Japanese chocolate manufacturing company. The company is best known for its "nama chocolate", a form of ganache made with melted cacao and fresh cream, and dusted with fine cocoa powder. History Royce' was establish ...

. Greater Sapporo, Sapporo Metropolitan Employment Area (2.3 million people), had a total GDP of US$84.7 billion in 2010. In 2014, Sapporo's GDP per capita (PPP) was US$32,446.

Culture and entertainment

Music

* 1934 – The International Contemporary Music Festival was held by

Akira Ifukube was a Japanese classical and film music composer, best known for his works on the ''Godzilla'' franchise. Biography Early years in Hokkaido Akira Ifukube was born on 31 May 1914 in Kushiro, Japan as the third son of a police officer Toshimi ...

, Fumio Hayasaka, Atsushi Miura, and Isamu Ifukube (30 September) * 1936 – Russian composer

Alexander Tcherepnin Alexander Nikolayevich Tcherepnin (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Черепни́н, link=no; 21 January 1899 – 29 September 1977) was a Russian-born composer and pianist. His father, Nikolai Tcherepnin (pupil of Nikol ...

visited Sapporo * 1960 – The

Sapporo Symphony Orchestra The Sapporo Symphony Orchestra (札幌交響楽団 ''Sapporo Kokyo Gakudan'') is a Japanese orchestra based in Sapporo, Japan. Colloquially known as "Sakkyo", this is the only professional orchestra in Hokkaido. The orchestra gives its concerts a ...

founded * 1962 –

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

and David Tudor visited Sapporo * 1966 – Berliner Philharmoniker with Herbert von Karajan performed Brahms's Symphony No. 2 at Sapporo Shimin Kaikan (April) * 1974 –

last public performance at the Hokkaido Koseinenkin Kaikan (11 November) * 1986 – The

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 wh ...

include the Outdoor Stage and Art Hall (27 July) * 1990 – The Pacific Music Festival (PMF) started * 1997 – The Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara opened * 2018 – Th
Sapporo Community Plaza
is set to open in October

Art

* The

Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art The 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 prefectur ...

represents Hokkaido artists like Eien Iwahashi, Kinjiro Kida,

Nissho Kanda Kanda Nissho (神田日勝; 1937–1970) was a Japanese artist and farmer. He is known mostly for his oil paintings. Nissho Kanda was born in 1937 in the Nerima district of Tokyo. When he was seven, his family moved to the Tokachi district in ...

Tamako Kataoka (5 January 1905 in Sapporo – 16 January 2008) was a Japanese ''Nihonga'' painter. She is known for her series of Mount Fuji and other mountains, painted in bold colours such as red. Biography Tamako Kataoka was born in Sapporo, Japan in 19 ...

, and especially glass objects of

Ecole de Paris The School of Paris (french: École de Paris) refers to the French and émigré artists who worked in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. The School of Paris was not a single art movement or institution, but refers to the importance ...

*The Hongō Shin Memorial Museum of Sculpture hosts a collection of over 1,800 works by the artist Hongō Shin. * The

contains Art museum featuring outdoor installations & a sculpture garden, and the old house of Takeo Arishima. * The

including the Glass Pyramid, designed by Isamu Noguchi * The Migishi Kotaro Museum of Art * The Hongo Shin Memorial Museum of Sculpture * The

Miyanomori Art Museum is a museum of contemporary art located in Sapporo, Japan, that was established in April 2006 and is now closed. Presentation The Miyanomori Art Museum is the main contemporary art museum in Hokkaido. It presents works from the contempora ...

* Th
Sapporo Odori 500-m Underground Walkway Gallery
* Member of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Creative Cities Network as
Creative City of Media Arts
since 2013
Sapporo International Art Festival
(2014/2017)

Literature

* The Hokkaido Museum of Literature * Takeo Arishima Residence in

* Junichi Watanabe Museum of Literature

Film

The Idiot (1951 film) is a 1951 Japanese film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa. It is based on the 1869 novel ''The Idiot'' by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The original 265-minute version of the film, faithful to the novel, has been lost for many years. A nearly three-hou ...

by Akira Kurosawa * The Northern Museum of Visual Culture * Theater Kino * The Sapporo International Short Film Festival and Market

Video games

* '' Yakuza 5'' * ''

Persona 5 Strikers ''Persona 5 Strikers'' is an action role-playing game developed by Omega Force and P-Studio and published by Atlus. The game is a crossover between Koei Tecmo's ''Dynasty Warriors'' franchise and the ''Persona'' series developed by Atlus. The g ...

'' * ''

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and are 2006 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. They are the first installments in the fourth generation of the ''Pokémon'' video game series. They were f ...

'', ''

Pokémon Platinum is a 2008 role-playing video game developed by Game Freak, published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It is an enhanced version of ''Pokémon Diamond'' and ''Pearl'' and is part of the fourth gene ...

'' and '' Pokémon Legends: Arceus'', Jubilife City, the capital of the Sinnoh region, is based on Sapporo.

Points of interest

Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in Sapporo
* The

former Hokkaidō government office building A former is an object, such as a template, gauge or cutting die, which is used to form something such as a boat's hull. Typically, a former gives shape to a structure that may have complex curvature. A former may become an integral part of th ...

* The

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 ...

* The

Nishino Shrine Nishino Shrine (西野神社, ''Nishino jinja'') is a Shinto shrine located in Sapporo, Hokkaido. It was established in 1885, and enshrines the kami Toyotama-hime (豊玉姫命), Ugayafukiaezu no mikoto (鵜草葺不合命), and Emperor Ōjin as ...

Hokkaido Museum opened in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan in 2015. Located within Nopporo Shinrin Kōen Prefectural Natural Park, the permanent exhibition is dedicated to the nature, history, and culture of Hokkaido. Also known as , the museum integrates and replaces ...

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 ...

Sapporo Buried Cultural Property Center opened in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan in 1991. Its aim is to research, collect, provide expertise on the preservation of, and display the city's buried cultural properties. The collection includes Jōmon artefacts as well as those of the Satsu ...

* Th
Sapporo City Archive Museum
��(Former Sapporo Court of Appeal) * The

Memorial Hall * The Hokkaido University &

Hokkaido University Museum The 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 prede ...

* The

Sapporo Beer Museum The 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 ...

Sapporo Factory The is a complex that includes a shopping mall, office, multiplex movie theaters, and museum, located in Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. The building was formerly a brewery that belonged to the Kaitakushi, the old government of Hokkaidō ...

* The

Sapporo Convention Center Sapporo Convention Center (札幌流通総合会館) also known as ''SORA'', is a convention center located in Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Overview Opened in June 2003, this multipurpose convention center comprehends the Main Hal ...

* The Sapporo Salmon Museum in

Makomanai Park Makomanai Park (真駒内公園) is a city park in Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. It is home to attractions such as Makomanai Open Stadium, Makomanai Ice Arena and the Sapporo Salmon Museum. It also contains a small gymnasium, restaurant and ...

* The Sunpiazza Aquarium

Sapporo JR Tower Sapporo JR Tower (Japanese: JRタワー) is a skyscraper, shopping mall and office complex in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. The tower is located above JR Sapporo Station South entrance, and the height of the tower is with 38 stories. Officially, Sap ...

adjacent to Sapporo Station. Sapporo Ramen Yokocho and Norubesa (a building with a Ferris wheel) are in

district. The district also has the Tanuki Kōji Shopping Arcade, the oldest shopping mall in the city. The district of Jōzankei in Minami-ku has many resort hotels with steam baths and

onsen In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...

. The

Peace Pagoda A Peace Pagoda is a Buddhist stupa; a monument to inspire peace, designed to provide a focus for people of all races and creeds, and to help unite them in their search for world peace. Most, though not all, peace pagodas built since World War II ...

, one of many such monuments across the world built by the Buddhist order Nipponzan Myohoji to promote and inspire world peace, has a

stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumamb ...

that was built in 1959, halfway up Mount Moiwa, to commemorate peace after

. It contains some of the ashes of the Buddha that were presented to the Emperor of Japan by Prime Minister Nehru in 1954. Another portion was presented to

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

by the Nipponzan-Myohoji monk, Junsei Terasawa.

Parks/gardens

* The

is located next to the

Hokkaido Shrine is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

and houses the

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. History Sapporo Maruyama Zoo officially opened in 1951 with it ...

. * The

* The Nishioka Park is a location of rich nature which centers around a pond and consists of marshland and the forest of the Tsukisamu River and its upper river basin. This park also serves as one of the main habitats in

for many types of wild birds. * The

offers great views of the city. * The Hokkaido University Botanical Gardens and The Chizaki Rose Garden * The Hitsujigaoka Observation Hill has a farm with sheep and attracts visitors with a statue of

Events/festivals

February: the

The main site is at Odori Park, and other sites include Susukino (known as the Susukino Ice Festival) and

Sapporo Satoland is an amusement park located in Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. Sapporo Satoland, which has an agricultural theme, was opened in 1995. Its official name is . History The Sapporo Satoland was established in 1995. Facilities have been run ...

. Many of the snow and ice statues are built by members of the

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force ( ja, 陸上自衛隊, Rikujō Jieitai), , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service b ...

.Tourism Statistics of Sapporo
2006, p.29 (pdf file) May: the Sapporo Lilac Festival.

Lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering plant, flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and wid ...

was brought to Sapporo in 1889 by an American educator, Sarah Clara Smith. At the festival, people enjoy the flowers, wine and live music. June: the Yosakoi Soran Festival. The sites of the festival are centered on Odori Park and the street leading to Susukino, and there are other festival sites. In the festival, many dance teams dance to music composed based on a Japanese traditional song, " Sōran Bushi". Members of the dancing teams wear special costumes and compete on the roads or stages constructed on the festival sites. In 2006, 350 teams were featured with around 45,000 dancers, and over 1,860,000 people visited the festival. The Sapporo Summer Festival. People enjoy drinking at the beer garden in Odori Park and on the streets of

. This festival consists of a number of fairs such as Tanuki Festival and Susukino Festival. September: the Sapporo Autumn Festival December: Christmas market in Odori Park, similar to German Christmas markets. From November through January, many citizens enjoy the Sapporo White Illuminations.

Cuisine

The city is home to

Sapporo Brewery is a Japanese beer brewing company founded in 1876. Sapporo is the oldest brand of beer in Japan. It was first brewed in Sapporo, Japan, in 1876 by brewer Seibei Nakagawa. The world headquarters of Sapporo Breweries is in Ebisu, Shibuya, Toky ...

, white chocolate biscuits known as 'shiroi koibito' (白い恋人), and also as the birthplace of

miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning. It is a thick paste produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and ''kōji'' (the fungus ''Aspergillus oryzae'') and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients. It is used for sauces and spread ...

ramen. Kouraku Ramen Meitengai, in the Susukino district, is an alley lined with many miso ramen restaurants, since 1951. After its demolition, due to plans for the

Sapporo Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

, the Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokocho was established in its place. It attracts many tourists throughout the year. From the year 1966, a food company named, Sanyo Foods, began to sell instant ramen under the brand name, "

Sapporo Ichiban is a brand of instant noodles (primarily ramen) manufactured by Sanyo Foods of Maebashi, Gunma, Japan. Sapporo Ichiban noodles are also manufactured in Garden Grove, California for the United States and North American market. Introduced in 19 ...

Haskap ''Lonicera caerulea'', also known by its common names blue honeysuckle, sweetberry honeysuckle, fly honeysuckle (blue fly honeysuckle), blue-berried honeysuckle, or the honeyberry, is a non-climbing honeysuckle native throughout the cool tempera ...

, a local variety of edible

honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both contin ...

, similar to

blueberries Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...

, is a specialty in Sapporo. Other specialty dishes of Sapporo include; soup curry, a soupy

curry A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...

made with vegetables and chicken, sometimes other meats too, and jingisukan, a

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

d lamb dish, named after

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

. Sapporo Sweets, is a confectionery using many ingredients from Hokkaido where there's also the Sapporo Sweets Competition held annually. Sapporo is also well known for fresh seafood including;

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

sea urchin Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...

and

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

. Crab in particular is famed. Many types of crab are harvested and served seasonally in Sapporo like the Horsehair crab, Snow crab, King crab, and Hanasaki crab with numerous dishes revolving around them.

Sports

The Sapporo Dome was constructed in 2001 and is currently host to the local professional teams, Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo (

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

), and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

). ES CON Field Hokkaido (エスコンフィールド北海道, ''Esukon Fīrudo Hokkaidō''), a

baseball park A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

under construction in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, will become the future home to

's Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and is scheduled to open in March, 2023. Sapporo was selected as host to the 5th Winter Olympics, scheduled for February 3 to 12, 1940; however Japan had to cancel the event, consequently handing the decision back to the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

, after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937. In 1972, Sapporo hosted the 11th Winter Olympics. Some structures built for Olympic events remain in use today, including the ski jumps at Miyanomori and Okurayama. After considering a bid for the

2026 Winter Olympics ) , nations = , athletes = , events = 116 in 8 sports , opening = 6 February 2026 , closing = 22 February 2026 , opened_by = , cauldron = , stadium = San Siro Verona Arena , wint ...

, Olympic representatives in Sapporo have said that the city is considering a bid for the

. The city predicts it may cost as much as 456.5 billion yen ($4.3 billion) to host the games and is planning to have 90 percent of the facilities within half an hour of the Olympic village, according to a report published 12 May 2016. The Alpen course would be in Niseko, the world's second-snowiest resort, while the village would be next to the Sapporo Dome, the report said. The plans were presented to the Japanese Olympic Committee on 8 November 2016. In 2002, Sapporo hosted three group matches of the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

at the Sapporo Dome. In 2006, Sapporo hosted some games of the

2006 Basketball World Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised by ...

and also for the

2006 Women's Volleyball World Championship The 2006 FIVB Women's World Championship was the fifteenth edition of the competition, contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the ' (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The final tournament was held from 31 October ...

. In 2007, Sapporo hosted the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships at the Sapporo Dome, Miyanomori ski jump, Okurayama ski jump, and the Shirahatayama cross-country course. It has been the host city to two Asian Winter Games and hosted the

2017 Asian Winter Games The 2017 Asian Winter Games ( ja, 2017アジア冬季競技大会, 2017 Ajia tōkikyōgitaikai) was the 8th edition of the Asian Winter Games. They were hosted in Sapporo and Obihiro in Hokkaido, Japan. These Games were originally scheduled for 2 ...

in Obihiro. Sapporo also hosted games during the

. Skiing remains a major sport in Sapporo with almost all children skiing as a part of the school curriculum. Okurayama Elementary School is unusual in having its own ski hill and ski jumping hill on the school grounds. Within the city are commercial ski hills including Moiwayama, Bankeiyama, KobaWorld,

Sapporo Teine Sapporo Teine (サッポロテイネ) is a recreational center in Teine-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. It comprises many facilities, such as the ski resort (with other facilities, besides ski), the Teineyama Ropeway, and the ''Sapporo Teine Golf Clu ...

and Fu's. Many sports stadiums and domes are located in Sapporo, and some of them have been designated as venues of sports competitions. The Sapporo Community Dome, also known by its nickname "Tsu-Dome", has hosted the Golden Market, a huge

flea market A flea market (or swap meet) is a type of street market that provides space for vendors to sell previously-owned (second-hand) goods. This type of market is often seasonal. However, in recent years there has been the development of 'formal' ...

event which is usually held twice a year, along with some sports events. The Makomanai Ice Arena, in

, was one of the venues of the Sapporo Olympics in 1972. It was renamed the Makomanai Sekisuiheim Ice Arena in 2007, when

Sekisui Chemical Sekisui Chemical is a Plastics manufacturer with head offices in Osaka and Tokyo. The company owns a plethora of subsidiaries engaged in a variety of businesses. Sekisui has over 27,000 employees in more than eighteen countries worldwide. Histor ...

Co., Ltd., acquired

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

and renamed the arena after their real estate brand. Other large sports venues include the Makomanai Open Stadium,

Tsukisamu Dome Tsukisamu Dome (月寒ドーム) was an indoor arena located in Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. The full capacity of the arena was 5,831. Overview This facility was used for Agricultural show , car exhibitions and sales, concerts, spor ...

Maruyama Baseball Stadium Sapporo Maruyama Baseball Stadium (札幌市円山球場), is a baseball stadium in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest P ...

, and the

Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center is an indoor sporting arena located in Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Japan. Sometimes called Kitayell, the capacity of the main arena is 8,000. It hosted some of the group games for the 2006 FIBA World Championship and also for the 2006 Women's Volleyba ...

, which hosts the professional basketball team,

Levanga Hokkaido Levanga Hokkaido is a Japanese professional basketball team based in the city of Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido. The club was founded in 2006 as ''Rera Kamuy Hokkaido'', this name comes from the language of the Ainu, an ethnic group indigenou ...

Toyota Big Air Toyota Big Air is a Japanese snowboarding (Straight jump) contest. This contest has been held in the Makomanai Open Stadium, Sapporo, Hokkaido since 1997, and from 2012 at the Sapporo Dome is a stadium located in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, and is ...

is a major international snowboarding event held annually in Sapporo Dome. As one of the richest events of its kind in the world, it draws many of the world's best snowboarders.

Professional sport teams

J.League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most successfu ...

– Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo (J1 in 1998, 2001–2002, 2008, 2012, 2017–present; J2 in 1999–2000, 2003–2007, 2009–2011, 2013–2016) . *

NPB or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

–

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Fighters also host a s ...

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

Transportation

Sapporo has one streetcar line, three JR Hokkaido lines, three subway lines and

JR Bus JR Bus collectively refers to the bus operations of Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies in Japan. JR Bus is operated by eight regional companies, each owned by a JR railway company. JR Bus companies provide regional, long distance, and cha ...

, Chuo Bus and other bus lines. Sapporo Subway trains have rubber-tired wheels.

Rapid transit

* Sapporo Streetcar *

Mount Moiwa Ropeway The is Japanese aerial lift line in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. This is the only line operates, while the company also operates a ski jumping course and an amusement park. Opened in 1958, the line climbs . The observatory is built for the panoramic view ...

Teineyama Ropeway The is Japanese aerial lift line in Teine, Sapporo, Hokkaidō. The line is operated by Kamori Kankō, which also operates resort around the line, including ski areas, an amusement park, and golf courses. Opened in 1974, the line mainly transpo ...

Rail

*JR Hokkaido Stations in Sapporo ** Hakodate Line: (Zenibako) – Hoshimi – Hoshioki – Inaho – Teine – Inazumi Kōen – Hassamu – Hassamu Chūō – Kotoni – Sōen – Sapporo – Naebo – Shiroishi – Atsubetsu – Shinrinkōen – (Ōasa) ** Chitose Line: Heiwa – Shin Sapporo – Kami Nopporo – (Kita-Hiroshima) **

Sasshō Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), which connects in Sapporo and in Tōbetu, Ishikari District. Its name is made up of two characters from and , the latter of which was the terminus of the l ...

(Gakuentoshi Line): Sōen – Hachiken – Shinkawa – Shinkotoni – Taihei – Yurigahara – Shinoro – Takuhoku – Ainosato Kyōikudai – Ainosato Kōen – (Ishikari Futomi)

Air

The Sapporo area is served by two airports: Okadama Airport, which offers regional flights within Hokkaido, and New Chitose Airport, a larger international airport located in the city of Chitose away connected by regular rapid trains taking around 40 minutes. The Sapporo-Tokyo route between New Chitose and Haneda is one of the busiest in the world.

Airport shuttle, tour and charter bus service

An airport shuttle bus servicing all hotels in Sapporo operates every day of the year
SkyExpress
was founded in 2005 and also provides transport to and from various ski resorts throughout Hokkaido, including Niseko.

Education

Universities

National

* Hokkaido University *

Hokkaido University of Education is a national public university administered by the government of Japan. It has five campuses in Hokkaido, Japan. The main campus is on the outskirts of Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido. Hokkaido University of Education, Sapporo (HUES) is the la ...

''See

Japanese national university As of 2013, there were 86 , 90 public universities and 606 private universities in Japan. National universities tend to be held in higher regard in higher education in Japan than private or public universities. As of the 2019 fiscal year, the numb ...

Public

* Sapporo Medical University *

Sapporo City University is a public university with campuses in Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Chuo-ku and Minami-ku, Sapporo, Japan. The predecessor of the school was established in 1991, and it was chartered as a university in 2006 when it merged with a nursing school. External ...

Private

* Sapporo University * Hokusei Gakuen University *

Hokkai School of Commerce is a private university in Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. It was originally set up in 1977 as the Commerce Faculty of the Kitami campus of Hokkai Gakuen University; it was spun off as a separate university in April 2006, at which point it ...

* Hokkai Gakuen University * Fuji Women's University *

Sapporo International University is a private university in Kiyota-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, established in 1993. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1969. The junior college division of the school is a women's college. Admission The school begins taking applicati ...

Tenshi College is a private university in Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the ...

Health Sciences University of Hokkaido The (HSUH) is a private university in Tobetsu, Hokkaido, Japan, established in 1974. The president is Norio Niikawa. Organization Undergraduate *Pharmaceutical science *Dentistry *Nursing & social services *Psychological science *Rehabilitatio ...

Sapporo Ōtani University is a private university in Higashi-ku, Sapporo Hokkaidō, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the ...

Hokkaido Tokai University was a university with two campuses in Hokkaido, Japan: the Sapporo campus in Minami-ku, which housed the School of Engineering and the School of International Cultural Relations; and the Asahikawa is a city in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkai ...

* Hokkaido Musashi Women's Junior College *

Hokkaido Bunkyo University is a private university in Hokkaido, Japan, established in 1999. It has campuses in Eniwa, Hokkaido, Eniwa and Sapporo, Hokkaido, Sapporo. Its junior college division is coeducational. The predecessor of the school, a women's school, was found ...

* Hokkaido University of Science * Koen Gakuen Women's Junior College * Hokkaido Institute of Technology *

Hokkaido College of Pharmacy was a private university Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public st ...

*Sapporo University of Health Sciences *Japan Health Care College

Primary and secondary schools

Sapporo Odori High School is a Japanese public high school in Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two is ...

provides Japanese-language classes to foreign and Japanese returnee students, and the school has special admissions quotas for these groups. The city has two private international schools: *

Hokkaido International School The is a private American educational system PreK-12 boarding school in Hokkaido. It was founded in 1958.Hokkaido Korean Primary, Middle and High School or the Hokkaido Corean School is a North Korean elementary, junior high, and senior high school in Kiyota-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido. Elementary schools in Japan High schools in Hokkaido Schools in Sapporo North Korean schools in Japan ...

( North Korean school)

Twin towns – sister cities

Sapporo has twinning relationships with several cities worldwide.Sister Cities , International Community Bureau
* Daejeon, South Korea (since October 2010) *

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, CO, United States (since September 1982) *

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, Germany (since August 1972) *

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia (since June 1990) *

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, OR, United States (since November 1959) *

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a major China, Chinese sub-provincial city and the List of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Lia ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

, China (since November 1980)

Notes

References

External links

Official Website

Sapporo Travel

Unesco Media City Sapporo
{{Authority control Cities in Hokkaido Populated places established in 1868 1868 establishments in Japan Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan

Etymology

History

Early history

20th century

21st century

Geography

Wards

Cityscape

Climate

Demographics

Economy

Culture and entertainment

Music

Art

Literature

Film

Video games

Points of interest

Parks/gardens

Events/festivals

Cuisine

Sports

Professional sport teams

Transportation

Rapid transit

Rail

Air

Airport shuttle, tour and charter bus service

Education

Universities

National

Public

Private

Primary and secondary schools

Twin towns – sister cities

See also

Notes

References

External links