East and West Sapporo Sapporo, with a population of 1.75 million and growing, is the prefectural capital and premier city of Hokkaido. The mountains surrounding this northern metropolis form a semicircle in which the city lies. Like all of Hokkaido, Sapporo experiences four distinct seasons. The boulevards and parks are awash with flowers in the spring and summer and with blazing foliage in the fall.
Winters are snowy but relatively mild, with temperatures warmer than Boston.
Crack snow-removal crews keep the traffic flowing, and an ice festival renowned the world over delights residents and visitors alike. Sapporo was a planned city from its conception. About 120 years ago the downtown area, sprawling along the banks of the Toyohira River, was given broad streets and avenues laid out in a grid system. This is very untypical of the maze of twisting, turning alleyways common to most Japanese cities. The streets, like those of western cities, have names and addresses that follow in numerical order.