Destination in Focus – Sapporo

Sapporo is the fifth largest city in Japan with a population of approximately 1.95 million people and the capital city of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Probably best known for its eponymous beer, skiing and annual Sapporo Snow Festival featuring ice sculptures, Sapporo boasts rich human resources, a high educational standard, and low office rental costs. Major industries include information technology, retail, and tourism. Sapporo is manufacturing various goods such as food and related products, fabricated metal products, steel, machinery, beverages, and pulp and paper.

Many foreign companies operating in Sapporo, amongst them AXA Life Insurance Co., Ltd, Amazon Japan G K., Ingersoll-Rand Japan Ltd., Nihon Medi-physics Co., Ltd.

Sapporo Metropolitan Employment Area had a total GDP of US$84.7 billion in 2010 and 2014 Sapporo’s GDP per capita(PPP) was US$32,446.

Quick Facts

• Designed with the input of specialists from overseas, Sapporo has a North American-style grid street plan;
• The city’s name means “important river flowing through a plain” in the indigenous Ainu language;
• Sapporo was established in 1868, making it Japan’s youngest major metropolis.