Sapporo TV Tower

An observation tower completed in 1957 at the eastern end of Odori Park in central Sapporo. Standing 147 meters, it was engineered by Naitō Tachū and registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2025.

Use

Office tower

Area

Chuo Ward, Sapporo

Completed

1957

Floors

5 above ground

Height

147 m

Total floor area

approx. 3,554 m²

Developer

Sapporo TV Tower Inc.

Architect

Naitō Tachū · Yamashita Toshiro Design Office

The Eastern Gate of Odori Park

At the eastern end of Odori Park in Chuo Ward, Sapporo, a steel tower rises 147 meters above the city’s famous green corridor. The Sapporo TV Tower opened on 24 August 1957 — the year after construction began — and has since served as the visual anchor for Odori Park’s 1.5-kilometer westward sweep toward the mountains. Five stories of enclosed structure form its base, with a total floor area of approximately 3,554 square meters and an observation deck at around 90 meters from which the whole length of the park stretches out.

The tower was the work of structural engineer Naitō Tachū, working with the Yamashita Toshiro Design Office. Naitō had completed the Chubu Electric Power MIRAI Tower in Nagoya three years earlier and would later design Tokyo Tower — making him the defining figure behind Japan’s postwar tower-building era. In Sapporo, the relatively compact height of 147 meters suited a city that valued its open, snow-bearing skies and the clear sight lines that define the grid of streets below.

A Landmark Written Into the City

An electric digital clock, installed at the 65-meter level in 1961, has told the time for Sapporo residents for more than sixty years, becoming one of those urban fixtures that quietly binds daily life to a specific place. From the observation deck, the view includes the former Hokkaido Government Office building — the red-brick landmark known locally as the Akarenga — and the towers of the city center, including JR Tower Sapporo, which frames the skyline to the west.

In March 2025 the tower was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property, a formal acknowledgement of its significance as a piece of Showa-era engineering and as an indispensable part of Sapporo’s identity. The operating company, renamed Sapporo TV Tower Inc. in 2012, continues to manage the tower as both a working communications structure and a public observation facility.

Summary

The Sapporo TV Tower was completed in 1957, stands 147 meters, and was designed by the structural engineer Naitō Tachū. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2025, it has been the eastern landmark of Odori Park for nearly seventy years. Whether arriving by the city’s subway grid or approaching along the park on foot, the tower provides an immediate orientation point — and an invitation to see Sapporo’s carefully planned cityscape from above.