Sapporo (札幌市, Sapporo-shi) - The
fifth-largest city in Japan by population and the
third-largest by geographic area. It is the capital of
Hokkaidō Prefecture, located in Ishikari Subprefecture, and
an ordinance-designated city of Japan.
Sapporo is best known outside Japan for hosting the 1972
Winter Olympics, and the annual Yuki Matsuri in the city,
internationally referred to as the Sapporo Snow Festival,
which draws more than 2 million tourists from around the
world. The city is also home to the eponymous Sapporo
Breweries.
Geography
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.[5] Roadways in the
urban district are laid to make grid plan road. The western
and southern part of Sapporo are occupied by a number of
mountains including Mount Teine, Maruyama, and Mount Moiwa,
as well as a lot of rivers including the Ishikari River,
Toyohira River, and Sousei River.
Sapporo has many parks, and among them, Odori Park is
located in the heart of the City and is one of the places
that a number of annual events and festivals are held
throughout the year. Moerenuma Park 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.
Neighboring cities are Ishikari, Ebetsu, Kitahiroshima,
Eniwa, Chitose, Otaru, Date, and towns are Tōbetsu,
Kimobetsu, Kyōgoku, and a village is Akaigawa.
Climate
Sapporo has a humid continental climate (Koppen Dfa), with a
wide range of temperature between the summer and winter.
Summers are generally hot and humid, and winters quite cold
and snowy. It snows a lot in winter, enabling it to hold
events and festivals with snow statues and objects. Boasting
630 cm ( 248 inches) on average,, one of the few
metropolises in the world with such heavy snowfall. The
city's annual average precipitation is around 1,100 mm (43
inches), and the mean annual temperature is 8.5°C (47°F).
Culture and entertainment
Sapporo is one of the popular tourist attractions in Japan,
and as of 2006, the annual number of tourists had reached
14,104,000, which was an increase of 5.9% over the previous
year (13,323,000 in 2005). 2006 was also the first year for
Sapporo when the number of tourists exceeded 14 million, in
its history of tourism.
Cuisine
Sapporo is known as the birthplace of Miso Ramen, a rāmen
noodle using miso, and Sapporo Ramen is also widely known.
The Kouraku Ramen Meitengai, an alley lined with many ramen
restaurants, was established in 1951 in Susukino district,
and after its demolition due to plans for the Sapporo
Olympics, the Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokocho was established in
the same place. It currently 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". In 2001, Sapporo Ramen was
listed as one of the Hokkaido Heritage along with other
ramens in Hokkaido such as Asahikawa Ramen and Hakodate
Ramen. On October 1, 2004, The Sapporo Ramen Republic, a
theme park focused on rāmens, was opened at the 10th floor
of the Sapporo ESTA, a commercial complex located in front
of the Sapporo Station.
Soup Curry, a liquid curry with vegetables and rice, is also
one of the specialties in Sapporo, and currently plenty of
soup curry restaurants are located in the cities and towns
in Hokkaido. Sapporo Sweets, a confectionery using many
ingredients from Hokkaido, is also popular, and the Sapporo
Sweets Competition is held annually.
A lamb barbecue style dish named Ghengis Khan is a popular
local speciality
Sapporo is also famed for fresh seafood, salmon, sea urchin
and crab in particular. It is also noted for Haskup, a local
variety of blueberry.
Entertainment and performing arts
The Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara is the main musical venue in
Sapporo, located in Nakajima Park in Chuo-ku. It is home to
the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, a local professional
orchestra organized in 1961, and their regular concerts are
held in this hall. The open-air stage in Sapporo Artpark is
another one of the music venues in Sapporo. The Pacific
Music Festival (PMF), an event started with the idea of
Leonard Bernstein in 1990, is held in both places. The
Sapporo Artpark, located in Minami-ku, also contains public
arts, an art museum, and the old house of Takeo Arishima.
Other art museums in Sapporo include The Hokkaido Museum of
Modern Art, the Sapporo Museum of Sculpture, and the Migishi
Kotaro Museum of Art, Hokkaido. The Hokkaido Museum of
Literature, located in Nakajima Park, has hosted many
exhibitions, seminars, and other educational activities. The
Sapporo Convention Center is located in Shiroishi-ku, and a
number of forums and events are held in the building. The
Sapporo Salmon Museum is located in Minami-ku, and displays
mainly materials related to the ecology of salmon. The
Sunpiazza Aquarium is located close to the Sapporo Science
Center in Atsubetsu-ku.
Points of interest
A lot of historical buildings, as well as shopping malls and
parks, are located in Sapporo, and draw many tourists in
every year. Historic landmarks include the Former Hokkaidō
government office building, the Sapporo Clock Tower, the
Hokkaido Shrine (Hokkaidō Jingū), and the Sapporo TV Tower.
The Sapporo Factory was a former brewery of the Sapporo
Beer, and is currently a huge shopping mall with many
restaurants, offices, and the multiplex movie theatres.
Another former brewery of the Sapporo Beer is the Sapporo
Beer Museum, which is currently a part of the Sapporo Garden
Park, and houses the Sapporo Beer Gardens (サッポロビール園, Sapporo
Bi-ru En). The Sapporo City Archive Museum, The Edwin Dun
Memorial Hall, and some old buildings in the Hokkaido
University are also historically important in Sapporo, and
each was listed in the Registered Tangible Cultural
Properties of Japan.
The Sapporo JR Tower, a complex building houses the Tower 38
and department store, is located adjacent to the Sapporo
Station. Being close to the main station of Sapporo, the
Sapporo JR Tower has been visited by many tourists, and the
number of visitors of the Tower 38, the tower with a
observation deck, recorded 311,815 in 2006. The Sapporo TV
Tower, located the eastern end of the Odori Park, is one of
more modern architectures, and has also an observation deck
viewing the entire Odori Park and Sapporo City. Susukino is
a district having the main nightlife scene in Sapporo, and
Sapporo Ramen Yokocho, Norubesa (a building with a huge
Ferris wheel) are located in this district as well as many
restaurants, nightclubs, bars, and adult entertainments. The
districts also has the Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade, the
oldest shopping mall in the City. In Minami-ku, the district
of Jōzankei is a site that many hotels with hot spring, and
many visitors also has visited.
Sapporo also offers many parks and gardens. The Odori Park
houses buildings such as the Sapporo TV Tower, and hosts
many events including Yosakoi Soran Festival, Sapporo Lilac
Festival, Sapporo White Illumination, and the Sapporo Snow
Festival. In the Nakajima Park, there are some landmarks
including Hōheikan, an old hotel building moved from the
Odori Park, and the Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara. The
Maruyama Park is located next to the Hokkaido Shrine, and
houses the Maruyama Zoo. The Moerenuma Park is located in
Higashi-ku, and houses many open-air art compositions
including the Glass Pyramid, planned by Isamu Noguchi. One
of the gardens in Sapporo, the Chizaki Rose Garden provides
various kinds of roses, and the Hokkaido University
Botanical Gardens has also many types of plants and
historically important buildings. The Hitsujigaoka
observation hill has a farm with sheeps, and is attracting
visitors with a statue of William S. Clark.
Events
In February, the Sapporo Snow Festival is annually held. The
main site is the Odori Park, and other sites include
Susukino (known as the Susukino Snow Festival), and the
Sapporo Satoland. Once Makomanai area in Minami-ku was one
of the festival sites, but it was abolished and moved to the
Satoland site in 2006. Many of the snow and ice statues in
the sites are built by the armies of Japan Ground
Self-Defense Force. In 2006, the number of visitors in the
Sapporo Snow Festival marked 1,985,000 in total.
Every June, the Yosakoi Soran Festival is held. The sites of
the festival are centered in the Odori Park and the street
leading to Susukino, but other festival sites also exist. In
the festival, many dance teams dance to their music which
are composed based on a Japanese traditional song, Sōran
Bushi. Members of the teams wear special costumes, and
compete their dancing skills on the roads or stages
constructed on the festival sites. In 2006, 350 teams were
organized with around 45,000 dancers, and over 1,860,000
people visited at the festival sites.
During the summer, the Sapporo Summer Festival takes place
in the heart of the city, and people enjoy drinking beers in
the beer gardens constructed in the Odori Park and on the
streets of Susukino district. This festival consists of a
number of fairs such as Tanuki Festival and Susukino
Festival as well as the Odori Park site.
Sports
The Sapporo Dome was constructed in 2001, and currently is
the host to the local football team, Consadole Sapporo, and
the baseball team, Hokkaidō Nippon Ham Fighters. Once
Sapporo was selected to be the host of the 5th Winter
Olympics scheduled on February 3 to 12, 1940, but Japan had
to give the Games back to the IOC, 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. In 2002, Sapporo hosted three
group matches of the FIFA World Cup at the Sapporo Dome. In
2006, Sapporo hosted some games of the FIBA World
Championships, and 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.
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 as its
nickname "Tsu-Dome", has hosted to the Golden Market, a huge
flea market event which is usually held twice in a year,
along with some sports events. The Makomanai Ice Arena,
located in the Makomanai Park, was used to be one of the
venues of Sapporo Olympics in 1972. It was renamed to the "Makomanai
Sekisuiheim Ice Arena" in 2007, when a real estate company,
Sekisui Chemical Co.,Ltd., acquired its naming rights and
renamed the arena after their brand name of the real estate.
Other large sports venues include the Makomanai Open
Stadium, the Tsukisamu Green Dome, the Maruyama Stadium, and
the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center.
Information source: “Sapporo.” wikipedia.org. Article
date: 26 Feb. 2008. Retrieved: Wikipedia. 4 Mar. 2008 <Sapporo>. |
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