With a population of some 1.75
million, Hokkaido's booming capital
SAPPORO
is the fifth largest city in Japan
and, as it's the transport hub of
the island, you're almost bound to
pass through it. Despite its size
and bustle, this is a pleasant and
vibrant city, dominated to the south
by the mountains that served as the
location for the 1972 Winter
Olympics, it is less than thirty
minutes from the coast. It's also
generously endowed with parks and
gardens and is laid out in an
easy-to-follow grid plan.
Sapporo is perhaps best known for
the beer brewed here since 1891: a
visit to the handsome,
late-nineteenth-century Sapporo
Brewery is a must, as is a
stroll through the gardens and
museums of the Botanical Gardens
, which date from the same era.
After dark, the bars and restaurants
of Susukino (pronounced
"suskino") spark to life
and you'll be hard pressed to find a
livelier nightlife district outside
of Tokyo or Osaka.
Pleasantly cool temperatures
tempt many visitors to Sapporo's Summer
Festival (July 21-Aug 20), which
features outdoor beer gardens and
other events in Odori-koen ,
the swathe of parkland that cuts
through the city centre. This park
is also the focus of activity during
the fabulous Yuki Matsuri , a
"snow festival" held every
February
, which draws over two million
visitors to the city.
There are some good day-trip
possibilities around Sapporo - top
of the list is the Historical
Village of Hokkaido , a huge,
landscaped park featuring over sixty
restored buildings from the island's
frontier days. The nearby port of Otaru
, one of the entry points into
Hokkaido, has some appealing
nineteenth-century architecture and
can be easily visited in a half a
day from the capital. Just about
possible as a day-trip, but better
experienced over a longer stay, are
the ski slopes of Niseko ,
some 100km south of the city.
Sapporo's name comes from the
Ainu word for the area, Sari-poro-betsu
, meaning "a river which runs
along a plain filled with
reeds". The city's layout was
designed in the 1870s by a team of
European and American experts
engaged by the government to advise
on the development of the island.
Statues of these advisers can be
found around Sapporo; the most
famous is the one of the American Dr
William S. Clark , who set up
Hokkaido University and whose
invocation to his students -
"Boys, be ambitious!" -
has been adopted as the city's
motto.
