Hokkaido Museum Sapporo

The Hokkaido Museum is the island’s flagship museum, and it tells a story quite unlike the rest of Japan’s: a northern land of Ainu culture, mammoths, herring booms and pioneer settlement, all unfolding on a timeline that only joined the Japanese mainstream in the last century and a half.

Five stories of the north

Galleries run from the deep past, where mammoth and Naumann elephant skeletons face off in the entrance hall, through the world of the Ainu, Hokkaido’s indigenous people, whose language, tools, and ceremonies receive serious, respectful treatment. Later sections cover the settlement era, when farmers from across Japan carved the island into fields, and the modern lives of Hokkaido people through industry, war and winters. Interpretation in English is strong, and the Ainu collections alone justify the trip for anyone interested in the cultures of the north Pacific.

Combine with the Historical Village

The museum shares the forested Nopporo park precinct with the Historical Village of Hokkaido, the open air collection of pioneer era buildings, and the two together make the definitive half day on Hokkaido’s story. Do the museum first for context, then walk the village’s streets with new eyes.

Getting there

From Sapporo Station, take JR to Shin-Sapporo or the Tozai subway line to its eastern end, then a bus toward Nopporo Forest Park; the museum stop is well signed. Allow around forty minutes each way from the city centre.

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