Hokkaido University

Hokkaido University is a free, open university campus in Kita-ku, Sapporo, less than a 10-minute walk from Sapporo Station's north side. Unlike a ticketed museum or landmark, there is no gate, no admission fee, and no fixed visiting hours for the grounds themselves; the 177-hectare campus functions much like a public park that happens to be a working national university, and visitors are free to walk it at any time. The Hokkaido University Museum, the one indoor facility most tourists stop at, is also free to enter.

The university traces its identity to 1876, when the Japanese government founded Sapporo Agricultural College and brought in Dr. William S. Clark, an American professor, as founding vice principal. Clark stayed only eight months, but his farewell words to his students, "Boys, be ambitious," became one of Hokkaido's most quoted phrases and are still associated with the university today. The college was renamed Hokkaido University in 1918 and has grown into one of Japan's leading national universities, but the campus itself, with its wide tree-lined avenues and working agricultural heritage buildings, is what draws most visitors.

It is worth being clear about scale before visiting: this is not a five-minute photo stop. The campus stretches roughly 2 kilometers north to south, and a full loop of the public walking course runs about 6 kilometers. Most visitors do not walk the whole thing; a realistic visit covers the Main Gate area, Ginkgo Avenue, and the Museum in 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how far in you go and whether the Museum is included.

One source of genuine visitor confusion is worth resolving upfront: this free campus visit is not the same thing as the Hokkaido University Botanical Garden, a separate, ticketed facility near Sapporo Station that is administered by the university but is a distinct attraction with its own admission and hours. This page covers the main Sapporo campus only.

The campus rewards a visit in any season, but autumn is when it draws the most attention. Ginkgo Avenue, a 380-meter row of ginkgo trees near the west side of campus, turns a deep gold from late October to early November and is one of Sapporo's most photographed autumn scenes. The rest of the year, the campus is simply a quiet, green, unstructured walk in the middle of a city of two million people, popular with joggers, cyclists, and anyone wanting a break from downtown Sapporo without leaving the city center.