Es Con Field Hokkaido Archives

Sapporo, the capital of Japan’s northern most island, Hokkaido, is a fantastic city that offers many sights and things to do. It’s a fairly spread out city and while there is a subway, it isn’t nearly as extensive as the subway systems found in Tokyo or Osaka so some of the locations may take a little longer to get to. But certainly it’s worth the extra effort to explore this wonderful city.

So what are some of the top things to do in Sapporo? Here’s a list of 10 Popular Things To Do In Sapporo, Hokkaido.

10 Popular Things To Do In Sapporo, Hokkaido:

Visit Ramen Alley

If you’re a ramen fan a visit to Sapporo’s Ramen Alley is a must. With 17 ramen shops within the alley there are plenty of places to try here each with their own unique twist on the beloved food. It’s a unique experience since it’s a narrow alleyway that is packed with ramen restaurants. You won’t this many ramen spots in such a small area anywhere else.

Ramen Alley, a must visit while in Sapporo for any ramen fan

Take A Stroll Through Odori Park

One of the top things to do in Sapporo is to visit its famous Odori Park. Located right in the middle of the city, it’s nearly impossible to miss. This overly large strip of a park, over a mile long, that has major streets running along side of it. The Sapporo TV Tower is also located here and can be seen throughout the park.

There are several festivals held throughout the year at the park including the Snow Festival, Lilac Festival, Soran Festival, and Beer Garden.

In December Odori Park gets a Christmas makeover with several exhibits with lights and a German Village that has stalls selling Christmas decorations and food. It’s a good time!

Odori Park is one of the top things to do in Sapporo. It has seasonal events which are quite the spectacle.

It’s definitely worth visiting to see what’s going on even outside of the popular festivals. It’s certainly a nice stroll through a unique park which is why it lands on my popular things to do in Sapporo list.

Check Out Maruyama Park and Everything Within It

Maruyama Park is a large sprawing park in Sapporo housing over 300+ different types of trees and plants with over a hundred different types of birds. It’s a huge park that offers a lot when visiting and is certainly one of the top things to do in Sapporo.

One of the most famous shrines in Hokkaido, Hokkaido Jingu Shrine, is located right next to it.

The Maruyama Zoo has been housed within the park since 1951. It has over 170 different species including polar bears, wolves, deer, elephants, giraffes, hippos, chimpanzees, and brown bears, just to name a few.

The Maruyama-Hachijuhakkasho Trail offers a nice little hike within the park that takes you up to a point that has a spectacular view of Sapporo. It’s a short hike which will take you uphill for that view but isn’t overly strenous. A visit to Maruyama Park is definitely one of the more popular things to do in Sapporo and is well worth the visit.

Go To The Sapporo Beer Museum

The oldest beer in Japan, Sapporo, was founded in 1876 and has a long history not only within Sapporo but Japan itself. It remains one of the country’s most popular beers and is quite popular around the world. The Sapporo Beer Museum is the only museum in Japan that’s dedicated to beer. This attraction is one of the most popular things to do in Sapporo.

The museum itself is free. It’s pretty tiny and will only take about 20-30 minutes to walk through. There’s a paid tour as well which provides more detail about the history of the legendary beer. On premises as well is a beer garden, a couple of stores with merchandise, and some restaurants, including a Genghis Khan restaurant.

Eat Famous Hokkaido Dishes

Hokkaido has a few signature dishes that originate from the area and are trying some of these dishes is certainly one of the most popular things to do in Sapporo. Genghis Khan, Soup Curry, and Miso Ramen, all originate from Hokkaido. You will find these dishes in other parts of Japan, but the number of places you can purchase these from are more plentiful in Hokkaido and are certainlty worth trying!

Enjoy The View Of Sapporo On The Mt. Moiwa Ropeway

Mount Moiwa is a small mountain southwest of central Sapporo. At the base of the mountain you’ll find the Mount Moiwa Ropeway. There’s a transfer station about three quarters up where you get into another cablecar that takes you to the very top of the mountain. This is where the observation deck is located along with a restaurant. The observation deck offers some stunning views of the city. It’s especially nice at night when the city is lit up! The ropeway and view are what makes this one of the most popular things to do in Sapporo.

Visit The Hokkaido University Museum

If you enjoy museums then the Hokkaido University Museum is worth a visit. This free admission museum is located on the Hokkaido University campus and is one of the more popular things to do in Sapporo. The three floor museum houses over four million specimens and documents. It educates visitors on all the different types of research that has occurred on campus. The museum also has a small cafe. The museum itself is fairly small, this is afterall on the campus of a college, but it’s fascinating to see, especially for museum buffs. Also, the ice cream in the cafe is top notch!

Do Some Shopping At Tanukikoji Shopping Street

Undoubtedly, one the of most popular things to do in Sapporo is shopping. One of the more popular areas is the Tanukikoji Shopping Street. This pedestrian only shopping street is HUGE. It runs for seven blocks and is about 900 meters. It’s home to over 200 shops, restaurants, and other stores. You can find essentially everything here be it souvenirs, clothing, food, dessert, entertainment. If you’re a shopper you’ll no doubt be spending some time here. It’s very close to Sapporo Station as well, just a 10-minute walk.

Check Out Es Con Field Hokkaido

The impressive stadium to the only baseball team in Hokkaido – the Nippon Ham Fighters – Es Con Field Hokkaido field opened in 2023 and seats 35k people. This is a beautiful stadium with a retractable roof, natural grass, and massive glass wall in the outfield which provides excellent natural lighting. The field is open to visit during the off-season as well. The food court, brewery, stadium tour, and massive team store were all open in the middle of December. It’s a little further out from Sapporo and is a 20 minute walk from the train station to the stadium but it’s certainly worth it. If you visit during the season, seeing a game here should certainly be high on the list for any baseball fan.

Sapporo Hitsujigaoka Observation Hill

This attraction is a bit of a trek if using public transit as you will need to take the bus. The pros: The scenic view of the famous bronze statue of Dr. William S. Clark. Clark was a famous American professor who came over to Hokkaido in 1876 and established the Sapporo Agricultural College, which is now Hokkaido College. His parting words “Boys, be ambitious” are immortalized on the statue as well. It’s a fantastic view with a wide open field in the background with the Sapporo Dome visible.

The cons: There’s not much else here. There’s some additional smaller buildings that serve as mini museums, and a restaurant and a place to grab some ice cream, but outside of that there’s not a ton here. It also costs yen to enter the parking lot. With the amount of time it takes to get here and how little is actually here, I wouldn’t place this at the top of the list of things to do in Sapporo.

The Ramen Alley in Sapporo Hits The Spot For Ramen Lovers

Lively Odori Park in Sapporo Is Well Worth A Stroll Through

Maruyama Park Sapporo Has A Lot To See And Do

Soup Curry In Hokkaido, Japan Is Simply A Must Try

Genghis Khan BBQ Is A MUST TRY If Visiting Hokkaido Japan

Things Get SPICY At This Miso Ramen Joint in Sapporo

Es Con Field Hokkaido Home To The Nippon Ham Fighters Is A Must Visit

The Nippon Ham Fighters are a Nippon Professional Baseball team (NPB, Japanese pro baseball) that are located in Sapporo, Japan. Having played their games in the Sapporo Dome since the team re-located from Tokyo to Sapporo back in 2004, the Fighters unveiled Es Con Field Hokkaido to kick off the 2023 season. I went and visited this stadium during the off-season and was very impressed with everything it had to offer!

The Background

Construction for Es Con Field Hokkaido began in May 2020 and was completed in January 2023, just in time for the 2023 season. The newest stadium in the NPB boasts a seating capacity of 35,000, has a retractable roof, and natural turf (a rarity for an NPB team). The field dimensions are as follows: left field 318 ft, center field 397 ft, right field 325 ft.

The standout feature of the stadium is the massive glass wall in the outfield. It essentially runs from left field to right field and it’s absolutely HUGE. When inside the stadium, it’s really a sight to behold and provides great natural lighting.

Outside The Stadium

The surrounding area is lush with greenery so the background setting of the stadium is quite peaceful when outside the stadium. There’s a couple of shops and restaurants next to the stadium and even a hotel that is directly next to Es Con Field Hokkaido. There’s a kids playground, a small pond surrounded by what looked like outdoor suites which were just a large room with a TV and deck with bbq. I’m not exactly what these were. I’d be interested to see how they’re utilized on game day.

I’d expect this area to be further developed in the future since there’s a lot of space within the vicinity.

Es Con Field Hokkaido is a little bit of a trek since it’s not in central Sapporo and doesn’t have a direct station. The nearest station is Kitahiroshima station which will be about a 20-minute walk to the stadium. I didn’t mind this walk since the area here is peaceful. During game days the walk would most likely be quite fun with boisterous and excited fans making the walk together. During the season I’m guessing they must have shuttle services from the station to the stadium but in those times it may just be faster to walk.

Inside the Stadium

Something that was pretty amazing to me about Es Con Field Hokkaido, outside of how great the exterior looked, was how accessible it was to the public in the middle of December. You could literally walk in through one entrance that takes you to the left field seats which were open to sit in. You could walk the concourse from left field to right field and along the first base line before areas were roped off.

The team store is massive, with a ton of Fighter apparel and souvenirs, really cool and it’s two stories as well!

Mural of Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani that’s between the team store and food court.

I expected the team store to be open, just didn’t think it was going to be on the inside of the stadium, but didn’t think the food court would also be open AND the brewery (!) too. There was a cool area in centerfield where the brewery was located.

Seeing that one the stadium had a brewery and it was open, I obviously had to grab a Playball Ale (800 yen, $5.29 USD) and roll pizza (Margherita roll 900 yen, $5.95 USD). The brewery is located in center field with both an “indoors” area and also a patio area that’s upstairs (this area’s bar wasn’t open).

I grabbed a seat at the counter that faces the field to enjoy my beer and food. Really cool place and location.

The Tour

Es Con Field Hokkaido offers a couple different tours. The Basic where you can walk around the diamond seat area and get to walk around in the dugout and stand on the field and then the Premium which includes everything from the Basic while also providing access to the players area / locker room. I went with the Basic (1800 yen, $12.42) USD). I really wanted to step onto the field and and see how the stadium looks from field level. You get some really great views of the stadium and the field and some behind the scenes looks into the inner workings of the stadium. It was a blast!

Field level directly in the front of the first base dugout

Es Con Field Hokkaido Is Worth A Visit

If you’re a sports fan and are visiting Sapporo, Es Con Field Hokkaido should be on the list of places to visit. The stadium is gorgeous and it’s a treat to walk around the surrounding area and within the stadium itself.

The next goal will be to go when the Fighters are playing. The atmosphere from the walk from the station to the field and then the game atmosphere itself would be amazing I’m sure. Certainly something I want to plan for in the future!

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