Sapporo White Illumination — photo by popsaurus via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Sapporo White Illumination 2026 Confirmed

さっぽろホワイトイルミネーション — Sapporo, Hokkaido (Hokkaido)

Last updated: Sun, August 2, 2026

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Odori Park's tree-lined blocks and the plaza outside Sapporo Station fill with light displays and a large illuminated tree, running through Sapporo's coldest, snowiest months as the city's signature winter event.

Background

First held in 1981, it is one of Japan's oldest illumination events, predating the country's illumination boom by over two decades, and now runs across five separate venues in central Sapporo.

Getting there

Odori Park is served directly by Odori Station (Sapporo Municipal Subway, all three lines); the station-plaza venue sits right outside JR Sapporo Station's south exit.

Tips

• The season is unusually long for a Japanese illumination — nearly four months — so it overlaps with the Sapporo Snow Festival in early February.
• The Sapporo Station South Plaza venue stays lit until midnight, an hour later than Odori Park.

Maintained by Tetsu Yamamoto · Last verified against the official source: Sun, August 2, 2026