After ten years of living in Norway, I thought I knew what a harsh winter felt like. But I had never experienced snowfall like this—snow driven almost horizontally by the wind.
This was my second trip to Japan, and this time I wanted to explore parts of the country I hadn’t seen before. The choice fell on Sapporo in northern Japan, and I planned to make my way south toward Osaka and Hiroshima.
Sapporo is Japan’s fifth largest city, located on the northernmost island of Hokkaido.
Compared to cities like Kyoto, Osaka, or even Tokyo, it is relatively young, having been founded in 1871. Despite this, Sapporo has grown into a cultural and culinary powerhouse in Japan.
The following are my impressions of Sapporo — a mix of personal experience and the history that still shapes the city today.
The Nikka sign in Susukino
This is probably the first landmark most visitors to Sapporo will see and remember. It’s none other than the Nikka sign in Susukino, the city’s main entertainment and nightlife area.
It was also the first place I visited in Sapporo. After arriving from Seoul, I got caught in a heavy snowstorm, and it took me quite a while to get from the airport to the city. When I arrived in the city and rolled my suitcase through the snowdrifts to my hotel close to Susukino, it was already dark outside. As I walked the short distance from the hotel to the Nikka sign, the snow swept sideways in my face.
After a few minutes, there it was: the Nikka sign, the most iconic landmark of the city. Despite the extreme weather, there were a lot of people at the intersection and didn’t care about the snow.
The man with the hat and beard is a stylized version of the founder of “Nikka Whiskey”: Masataka Taketsuru. In the 1910s, he went to Scotland to learn real whiskey making and when he returned in 1934, he founded Nikka, choosing Hokkaido because the climate was similar to Scotland.
Since he brought the knowledge of whiskey making to Japan, he is often referred to as the “father of Japanese whiskey”. Amidst the snowfall, a bearded whiskey pioneer stands and looks out over Susukino — as if he’s keeping an eye on the city’s nightlife. In a way, he does this with his whiskey.
It was this contrast between the bright and warm whiskey commercial and the cold snowy weather that I associate most with Sapporo.
You don’t have to be a big whiskey fan to appreciate this sign. I personally don’t have a strong relationship with whiskey, but this sign, which has been lit up since the 1960s, was one of my favourite places in the city.
I recommend visiting at different times of the day. The intersection is lively even during the day, but the real magic comes after dark, when all the signs light up. As the city’s main entertainment district, there are plenty of restaurants, bars, and shops, making it an easy place to spend a few hours. If you’ve been to Japan before, you’ll also recognize the familiar game arcades, where you can play video games or try your luck at the claw machines.
I was tired on the day I arrived, so after visiting the Nikka sign and having a bowl of Sapporo ramen, I called it an early night to be ready for exploring the city the next day.
Sapporo TV Tower and Odori Park
Fully recovered after a good night’s sleep and my obligatory morning coffee, I set out to visit one of the city’s most unmissable landmarks — and I mean that quite literally. The 147-meter-tall Sapporo TV Tower is something you will come across many times during your stay.
Running through the center of the city, Odori Park stretches like a green axis dividing Sapporo into north and south. Originally designed as a firebreak, it has since become one of the city’s main public spaces — a place where people gather, especially during festivals and events throughout the year. From almost anywhere in the park, your gaze naturally leads toward the TV Tower at its eastern end.
From the top of the Sapporo TV Tower, you don’t just see a city – you see a plan. A very ambitious plan.
Straight lines, bright streets — a city drawn with Western precision amidst the snow.
From above, it becomes clear that this city in Japan’s far north symbolizes the country’s ambitious push to modernize after being confronted by Western powers in the mid-19th century. This shift is often associated with the Meiji Restoration, when Japan rapidly opened up and began adopting Western knowledge and technologies.
Sapporo is especially interesting because it is one of the few Japanese cities that did not grow “organically” but was planned from scratch in the 19th century.
Sapporo was founded as the administrative centre for the colonization of the northern island of Hokkaido from 1869, when the territory was called Yezo (North Sea Province). The island was originally inhabited by the Ainu people, an indigenous hunter-gatherer people who previously inhabited much of northern Japan, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands.
Inspired by American urban planning, the city was drawn on a drawing board. This layout is very atypical for Japan — wide, straight streets forming a clear grid, with Odori Park running through the center. In the late 19th century, Japan brought in Western experts to develop Hokkaido. This Western influence is a big reason why Sapporo feels a little different from the rest of Japan.
The tower itself was built in 1957 in the post-war era, when the country experienced great economic growth. It was originally used for television broadcasting at a time when television was new to the world. Today it mostly functions as an observation tower. The architecture of the tower and surrounding buildings looks a bit “retro”. The tower therefore symbolizes the modernization of Sapporo and Japan’s wild post-war economic development.
Sapporo Tower is located at the end of Odori Park, and its location is no coincidence. When the TV tower was erected in 1957, it completed a planned axis through the city. The location provided unobstructed views along the entire length of Odori Park, optimal conditions for television signals – and a symbolic conclusion where public space meets modernity.
I recommend visiting Sapporo Tower at different times of the day, as the atmosphere is completely different depending on the time of day.
The retro look of the TV tower is especially evident when it gets dark and the lights come on. You can also take an elevator up to the top of the tower. The weather can be unpredictable, so if you have several nights in the city, it’s a good idea to be flexible.
I chose to visit the viewpoint about an hour before sunset and stayed until it was fully dark, so I could observe the city from above as it evolved from light to dark.
Former Hokkaido Government Office Building
Just a short walk from Odori Park, I found myself in front of one of the most beautiful — and historically important — buildings in Sapporo. The old government building, often called ‘Akarenga’ (the red brick building), doesn’t quite fit in with Japan.
The red brick building looks more like Boston than Japan — a reminder of the time when Sapporo was being built with Western ideas, brick by brick.
The building was built in 1888. The architecture can be described as American neo-baroque, and the fact that the building is built of brick is quite unusual for Japan at the time. In a way, the building is a symbol of Japan’s attempt to catch up with the West. However, the building is not just a symbol of Western influence, but of something more.
The building was used as the headquarters of the Hokkaido government, where decisions were made about the colonization and expansion of the northern regions. The development of Hokkaido was not only about modernization — it also involved pressure on the indigenous Ainu people to assimilate into Japanese society. Therefore, the building also symbolizes and projects state power in a region that had only recently become part of the Japanese Empire.
I recommend visiting in the morning, while there is still daylight. In winter, the contrast between the white snow and the red brick is especially striking. The building is set within a park, surrounded by trees and a small lake, which makes the whole area feel particularly calm and atmospheric at this time of year.
One detail that stands out on many older buildings in Sapporo are the red stars. Coming from Europe, and with an interest in Eastern European history, I couldn’t help but think of the communist red star. But these stars are not connected to Soviet or communist history — they belong to something much more uniquely Sapporo. I’ll come back to that later.
Hokkaidō Jingū
Leaving the busy city center behind, I made my way toward a more tranquil and traditional part of Sapporo. Amidst snow-covered cedar trees, the Hokkaidō Jingū shrine sits quietly — almost as a contrast to the planned, modern city outside. It feels far more traditional than the rest of the city.
At first glance, this Shinto shrine feels old and timeless, yet it too is part of Japan’s story of modernization and expansion. It was built in 1869, shortly after the country began developing Hokkaido.
It is dedicated to deities associated with the state and the emperor, reflecting Japan’s presence in the north — politically, culturally, and religiously. Where the red brick building expressed political power, this shrine shows how that presence was also shaped through religion and spiritual identity.
This process was not only about building something new. It also meant that what had already existed here was gradually pushed aside — the Ainu people. In that sense, this place can also be seen as a symbol of a time when one culture became dominant, while another was marginalized.
I would recommend visiting this place in a quieter setting, preferably in winter. The snow muffles the sounds, and the whole area takes on an almost meditative atmosphere. It is a place that feels peaceful compared to the chaos around the Nikka sign. Set within the forested area of Maruyama Park, the shrine feels somewhat removed from the city center, yet it is still easily accessible by public transport.
It can get quite busy during peak hours, so if you are looking for a more tranquil experience, it is best to come early in the morning. That said, I visited around dusk, when it wasn’t quite dark yet, and it created a very special atmosphere — the white snow, the lanterns, and the soft yellow glow of the shrine coming together in a quiet, almost cinematic way.
Sapporo Brewery & Beer Museum
Earlier that day, I had visited the Sapporo Brewery — something you’ll notice traces of all over the city. Everywhere you walk in Sapporo, you find references to ‘Sapporo Beer,’ like on this red brick building. The red brick brewery feels like something out of Europe, but it tells a very Japanese story — of a country learning from the West and turning it into something of its own.
The Sapporo brewery was established in 1876 and is one of the oldest beer brands in Japan. Like much else in the city, it was part of Japan’s effort to build something new using Western knowledge, which the architecture reflects. The buildings are made of brick, in a Western industrial style that was unusual in Japan at the time. Even the faded “SAPPORO BEER” text on the wall feels like a trace from another era — a reminder that this was once an active brewery, not a museum.
Beer itself was also something imported. The first brewers were trained in Europe and brought techniques from countries like Germany back to Japan. In that sense, this place represents more than just a local product. It tells the same story you see throughout Sapporo — of a city shaped by influences from outside Japan.
I would recommend taking your time walking around the area. We also went inside the museum, but unless you are particularly interested in beer brewing, it is not especially engaging. However, you can try different types of Sapporo beer there. I found the building itself more interesting than the museum.
Final thoughts on Sapporo
I visited Sapporo at the beginning of January, in the depth of winter. Sapporo itself is the gateway to Hokkaido, an island shaped by mountains and volcanoes. While winter offers excellent skiing conditions and some of the best snow in the world, new possibilities open up as the island transitions into other seasons. Next time I return, I want to experience the city in summer and venture further out into nature.
There is something striking about Sapporo — a modern, vibrant frontier city standing in quiet contrast to the rugged and unforgiving landscape that surrounds it. Just beyond the city, the ordered streets give way to something far less controlled — vast, untamed landscapes shaped by mountains, forests, and snow. In many ways, the contrast between modern Sapporo and the rugged landscapes of Hokkaido reflects a defining chapter of Japan’s more recent history — a story of ambition, modernization, and a country looking outward.
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