| Welcome to SAPPORO!
PLACES OF INTEREST:
Odori Koen, Okurayama
Jump Station, Tokei Dai,
and Moere Numa Koen
FESTIVALS:
Sapporo
Yuki Matsuri (February 5) the Sapporo Snow Festival, is
one of the world’s largest winter festivals featuring
hundreds of ice sculptures
Marimo Matsuri (October 11) is an Ainu festival held for
three days at Lake Akkan in the town of Akkan-cho in Hokkaido.
SAPPORO:
Sapporo, located on the Ishikari plain, is the nation’s
5th largest city and the capital, administrative and economic
center of Hokkaido. It is the homeland of Japan’s indigenous
Ainu people – in fact “Sapporo” is an Ainu
word meaning ‘important river flowing through a plain.’
Sapporo shares the same latitude as Montreal, Canada and has
a long, cold winter and a cool, short summer. The first evidence
of Japanese settlers in Hokkaido was in the 7th century; however,
it wasn’t until the 18th century when the island’s
first trading post was established.
In 1855, the Tokugawa shogunate declared Hokkaido under its
jurisdiction and established government offices in Hakodate,
located on the island’s southern coast. In 1866, the government
constructed a canal (Sousei Kawa Canal) in Sapporo to be used
for irrigation and the transport of construction materials.
Soon afterward some 28 families migrated to the region and established
a small farming community.
The government of the Meiji
Restoration (1868-1912) was interested in developing the
island’s resources and in 1869 established the Kaitakushi
(Development Commission) in Sapporo. In 1871, Kiyotaka Kuroda,
Vice-Governor of Kaitakushi, visited the United States to study
its frontier development and gained the support of Horace Capron,
Secretary of Agriculture under President Ulysses S. Grant, who
became an adviser to Kaitakushi. Factories were built mainly
for the production of beer and dairy products – which
remain, to this day, two of Hokkaido’s most valuable commodities.
The city was designed with the aid of American urban planners
based on American models. Unlike most of Japan’s other
cities whose streets meander and curve, Sapporo was laid out
in a grid system with a main thoroughfare and park dividing
it between north and south and Sousei Kawa Canal between east
and west.
By 1880, Japan’s third railroad was established linking
Sapporo with Otaru, a port city located 20 miles to the west,
then later to the coal mining region of Horonai. With its transportation
mechanism well established and a wealth of natural resources,
Hokkaido became a vital part of the Japanese economy.
By 1970, Sapporo’s population had grown to over one million
residents and in 1972 was designated as one of Japan’s
“eleven major cities,” along with Tokyo,Yokohama,
Nagoya,
Osaka, Kyoto,
Kobe, Kita
Kyushu, Fukuoka, Kawasaki and Hiroshima.
In 1972, Sapporo hosted the 11th Winter Olympic Games.
Today, Sapporo is a modern metropolis with a population of
more than 1.8 million residents. The surrounding mountains offer
some of the best skiing in all of Japan and a vast and pristine
wilderness to which outdoors enthusiasts flock in great numbers
to enjoy hiking, camping, whitewater rafting, etc. Sapporo is
also known for its fresh seafood, principally, salmon, crab,
scallops and trout as well as its ‘ramen’ –
Sapporo’s Ramen Yokocho (alley) is considered to have
some of the best noodle shops in all of Japan.
ODORI KOEN
Running east and west through downtown Sapporo, Odori
Koen is a mile-long urban park flanked by Sapporo TV Tower on
its eastern end and Sapporo Reference Hall on the west. Created
in 1871 as part of the city’s master plan, it was originally
designed to serve as a fire break. In the summer, flowers are
abundant and its great shade trees and sitting areas make it a
popular lunch spot for the many who work in Sapporo’s downtown
area. It has a rose garden, a fountain, an outdoor stage and sculptures
including Slide Mantra by Japanese American artist, Isamu Noguchi.
It is best known as the center of one of the world’s most
renowned winter festival, Sapporo Yuki Matsuri (Sapporo Snow Festival).
Each year during the first week of February, Odori Koen is transformed
into a winter wonderland showcasing large ice replicas of world
famous architecture and hundreds of other ice sculptures. To learn
more about Yuki Matsuri, visit JapanCorner’s festival
page.
OKURAYAMA
JUMP STADIUM
 There
are 7 ski areas within the City of Sapporo, but most famous
is Okurayama Jump Station. Originally built in 1931, it was
home to the 90 meter ski jump competition during the 1972 Winter
Olympics and today it is still used - even in the summer when
the snow is manufactured. The indoor facilities include the
Sapporo Winter Sports Museum with its Winter Olympic Games exhibitions.
TOKEI
DAI
 Tokei
Dai (Clock Tower) constructed in 1878 during Sapporo’s
pioneering days, is one of the most photographed sites in the
city. It was built as the martial arts training facility of
the Sapporo Agricultural School – predecessor to Hokkaido
University. Built entirely of wood, today it stands in great
contrast with the nearby modern buildings of downtown Sapporo.
MOERE NUMA KOEN
 Moere
Numa Koen is a 467 acre park in Sapporo designed by the Japanese
American artist, Isamu Noguchi. He completed his design for
the park shortly before his death in 1988, however, it was ten
years later when his vision was realized and the new park was
officially opened. It features the Glass Pyramid, Play Mountain,
Tetra Mound, Moere Mountain and many other “living sculptures”
of interest to young and old alike. Moere Numa Park is considered
an excellent large-scale example of what Noguchi called, “the
sculpture of spaces.”
JapanCorner 2005
 
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