Wednesday/ Sapporo at night 🏙️

The Sapporo TV Tower was built in 1957.
It stands at 147 m tall (483 ft, so not nearly as tall as Seattle’s Space Needle at 605 ft).
It is located on the grounds of Odori Park near Sapporo Station.

Inside Sapporo Station. A nod to Sapporo’s hosting of the 1972 Winter Olympics that took place from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo. It was the first time the Winter Olympics were held outside Europe and North America.

This is the Japan Rail building complex by Sapporo Station. It is basically a giant shopping mall with an office tower and an observation deck attached to it as well.
Behind me is a large taxi and bus drop-off area for passengers arriving and departing from the station.

A closer look at the signage.

I went up to the 6th floor of the shopping mall building, and then there is another elevator that goes up to the observation deck on the 38th floor in the tower on the right.
I stood in front of the building in the center just a few minutes ago.
I will have to go and take a look at the old main station building on the left, tomorrow. Its architecture looks a little like that of the old Tokyo station building.

A detailed map in the lobby of the Tower Three Eight (T38) building. Sapporo became the capital of Hokkaido in 1868, when the Meiji government chose the site to replace Hakodate as the island’s administrative center.
Hakodate was seen to be in a vulnerable location, and there was a relatively large flat area where Sapporo is now, in the mountainous terrain of Hokkaido island.

The ceiling of the elevator car going up to the 38th floor. I like the dandelion seeds that indicate the compass directions.

So here are the views from the T38 observation deck. This is looking south, maybe a little southwest, straight out from the south side of Sapporo Station.
The long, straight, brightly lit street running into the distance is part of the central grid heading toward the entertainment district. The blue-and-pink Ferris wheel on the upper right looks like the one on top of the NORIA building in Susukino.
Odori Park: The dark band of trees crossing the city in the middle distance looks like Odori Park, which runs east to west.
[Claude AI looking at my picture]

There is the bus and taxi stand on the left.

Looking down at the ant-sized humans on the plaza in front of the JR station building.

Looking out west, more or less. Train lines coming into and going out of Sapporo station in the center of the picture. That looks like a ski area, the lit up strip on the mountain.
Comments from Claude AI: Yes, that looks like Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium. The lit strip is a ski jump hill, though, not a regular ski slope. You can see the steep inrun at the top and the landing slope below it. The green section is the artificial turf used for summer jumping, and the light patch of snow around it is the early-season dusting. I can also make out what looks like the “OKURA” lettering on the hill near the base. It was used for the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics. The large hill ski jumping competition was held there, while the normal hill event took place at nearby Miyanomori. The alpine skiing events were held elsewhere, mainly at Mt. Teine and Eniwa.

Taking a closer look at Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium with my camera’s zoom lens.

And zooming in on a train arriving into Sapporo station.

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