Sapporo · OdoriNo.1173★★Open in map →
Sapporo TV Tower
A red lattice tower at the head of Odori Park, with an observation floor, a large electric clock and a ticket counter three storeys up. It is Sapporo's most photographed structure, and the one place that shows the park whole.
- FromSapporo Station
- ~10 minSubway, one stop
- Get off atOdori Station (Namboku, Tozai and Toho subway lines)
- On foot
- Sapporo TV Tower
The sweet spot
This is a famous landmark rather than a hidden one, and the park around it is busy through the day. The less obvious part is that the deck stays open late into the evening, so the hour you go up is a choice rather than a queue, and the view changes completely between the two ends of the day.
Where it is
102 more notes in Hokkaido · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Entrance Courtthe ground-floor hall under the legs, with a tourist information centre and a mascot shop
- Sky Loungethe third-storey level holding the observation ticket counter, a restaurant and a photo service
- Observation deckthe enclosed gallery 90 metres up, wrapping the shaft with windows facing every direction
- Kowaso windowa pane on the deck carried down to the floor, so the drop sits underfoot
- TV Tosan Shrinea small shrine inside the deck, named for the tower's long-running mascot character
How to actually get there
- Sapporo Station → Odori Station (Namboku or Toho Line, one stop, 210 yen).
- Odori Station → exit 27, which comes up at the tower's legs.
- Take the lift from the third-storey ticket counter to the observation deck.
- Walk the deck full circle, then come down into Odori Park and look back up at the clock.
- Subway from Sapporo Station, one stop
- Sapporo Station →(Namboku or Toho Line, one stop)→ Odori Station, then exit 27, which comes up at the tower's legs. Confirmed at the time of writing, the fare is 210 yen in the operator's first zone. Trains run frequently through the day, so no timetable planning is needed.
- Return from Odori Station
- Go back down into Odori Station and ride one stop north to Sapporo Station, or walk the underground concourse if the weather has turned. Subway service ends before midnight, so if you stay for the last entry check the departure board on the platform rather than assuming.
About the place
Sapporo TV Tower stands at the east end of Odori Park, in Chuo ward, where the city's numbered blocks begin. The steel lattice rises 144 metres, tapering from splayed legs to a slim antenna mast. Its name is now historical: television transmission moved to a station on Mount Teine, and the tower no longer works as a broadcast mast. What it still does is keep time, with a large electric clock mounted on its flank and legible from much of the central grid. The rest of the structure belongs to visitors — a ticket floor, a lift, an observation deck and a small shrine at the top.
How to enjoy it
The deck runs from 9:00 to 22:00, with last entry at 21:50, so the same ticket buys a daylight view of the park's full length or the grid lit after dark. Facing west you look straight down Odori Park to the hills beyond the city, and turning south the Susukino signs mark the entertainment district. Going up near dusk gets you both in a single visit.
Background & history
The tower opened in 1957, built as broadcasting reached Hokkaido, and was designed by Tachu Naito, the structural engineer behind several of Japan's early steel towers. The electric clock was added in 1961 and has been rebuilt since. As newer transmitters and taller buildings arrived, the tower's technical role fell away and its civic one grew. In 2025 the Agency for Cultural Affairs registered it as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property, citing the tapering profile and the paired observation levels of the main shaft.
Before you go
- Cash
- Admission to the deck is 1,200 yen for high-school age and above and 600 yen for elementary and junior-high students, with pre-school children free. The counter takes cash, credit cards, transport IC cards such as Suica, and barcode payment.
- Before you go
- The tower has no car park of its own, so drivers use the paid lots nearby. The deck closes for scheduled maintenance on a small number of days each year, and event days in the park can shift the hours, so check before a long detour.
- Another way
- From Sapporo Station you can reach the tower without stepping outside, through the underground walkway beneath Ekimae-dori and the Aurora Town concourse — useful in deep winter or heavy snow.
- After you get off
- From Odori Station, exit 27 surfaces at the base of the tower on the park's east end; the ticket counter is three storeys up, not at street level.