Hokkaido · SapporoNo.1112★★Open in map →

Former Hokkaido Government Office

— Akarenga, the red brick landmark of central Sapporo

historyOff the trail — and worth it

A red brick prefectural office at the head of a paved plaza a short walk from Sapporo Station, back in use after a long rebuild. Exhibition rooms, a shop, a cafe and a restaurant now share the building, and the balcony inside its octagonal tower takes small guided groups.

FromSapporo Station (JR and subway)
~8 minWalk from Sapporo Station
Former Hokkaido Government Office

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

This is one of the buildings every Sapporo itinerary already contains, and calling it a secret would be untrue. What most visitors miss is the inside. The front is photographed from the plaza and for a lot of people that is the whole visit. The tower above them is a booked, guided climb rather than somewhere you can wander up to, which is why it stays quiet even when the front gate is busy.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Kita 3-jo Plazathe paved square in front, lined with Hokkaido's oldest street trees, the city's first wood-block paving still beneath it
The front gate and elevationbrick gate piers and the symmetrical red brick front with the tower above it
The heritage and history roomsexhibitions on Hokkaido's heritage, its history and Ainu culture, using digital displays and AR
The regional information cornersdisplay boxes, signage and a map game covering the municipalities of Hokkaido
The octagonal tower balconysixty-eight steps up to a balcony closed to the public until the rebuild, in guided groups of seven

How to actually get there

Sapporo Station → Kita 3-jo Nishi 6-chome, on foot down the avenue and then west along Kita 3-jo.
Book the octagonal tower balcony before you travel; the slots are small and go on sale well in advance.
Walk the plaza first for the front elevation, then go in by the north or south entrance.
Finish with the exhibition rooms, then the shop and cafe, which need no ticket.

Eight minutes on foot from Sapporo Station: Leave JR Sapporo Station by the south exit on the west side and walk down the avenue; the official guidance is about eight minutes. From the subway it is shorter — exit 10 of Sapporo Station on the Namboku and Toho lines is signposted at about four minutes. Sapporo's blocks are numbered, so the address, Kita 3-jo Nishi 6-chome, works as directions on its own.
Back to Sapporo Station on foot: Walk north up the grid the way you came, or cut south to Odori and pick up any of the three subway lines there. Trains are frequent through the day. The subway does not run all night, so check the last departure on the platform if you have stayed into the evening.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

The building stands at Kita 3-jo Nishi 6-chome, west of the avenue that runs south from Sapporo Station. It is a brick structure of two storeys over a basement, with an octagonal tower set on the roof, and roughly two and a half million bricks went into it. The design was led by Hirai Seijiro of the prefectural public works section, in the American neo-baroque manner then current. It was the seat of government for Hokkaido until the modern prefectural office was finished behind it. The rooms inside now hold exhibitions on the island's heritage, its history and Ainu culture, alongside a shop, a cafe and a restaurant.

How to enjoy it

Doors open at 8:45 and the building stays open until 21:00, with last admission at 20:30 — much later than most museums here, so it is one of the few historic interiors in Sapporo you can still be inside after dinner. The tower climbs run four times a day, at 11:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 15:00, and take about thirty minutes. Fix that slot first and arrange the plaza, the exhibitions and the shop around it.

Background & history

The building was completed in 1888 as the seat of the Hokkaido government. Its octagonal tower came down within a few years, because wind and rain made it a liability, and fire gutted the interior in 1909; the repairs were finished in 1911. A restoration completed in 1968 returned the exterior towards its original form and rebuilt the tower, and the building was designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 1969. The most recent works began in 2019, and it reopened on 25 July 2025.

Before you go

Cash: Admission to the exhibition floors is charged, and the official site lists junior-high-school age and younger as free. Using only the shop, the cafe or the restaurant needs no ticket at all, and the north and south entrances are free to walk through. The tower balcony is ticketed separately, with tickets released thirty days ahead on the official site and sold at the counter inside.
Good to know: The building shuts over the new year, from 29 December to 3 January, and on maintenance days set by the operator. The tower is reached by stair and climbed in a helmet, and it is closed to anyone unsure on steps or uneasy with height; there is a lift for the main floors but not for the tower. Sapporo winters are long and the plaza in front is open to the wind, so weight the indoor half of the visit in the cold months.
Another way: Odori Station is the other way in and is served by all three subway lines. Leave by exit 2 and the official guidance gives about nine minutes on foot, north through the grid. That approach also puts Odori Park on the route.
After you get off: From JR Sapporo Station take the south exit and walk down the west-side avenue, then turn along Kita 3-jo. The plaza opens ahead and the building closes the far end of it. From the subway, exit 10 brings you out on the same street.