History
Sapporo Station opened on 1880-11-28 as the eastern terminus of the government-built Horonai Railway between Temiya and Sapporo. A new building was erected in 1882, replaced in 1908 after the second-generation structure was half-destroyed by fire, and rebuilt again in 1952 as a four-storey "people's station" with commercial tenants. The Sapporo Municipal Subway connected via the underground Sapporo Station in 1971. Phased elevation works produced a partial high-level station on 1988-11-03 and full elevation on 1990-09-01. JR Hokkaido took over at privatisation on 1987-04-01, and the current JR Tower complex above the station opened on 2003-03-06.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Where the English and Japanese sources differ, this account follows the Japanese source.
Notes
In FY2024 Sapporo Station averaged 86,042 boarders per day — about 4.1 times the figure for New Chitose Airport Station, JR Hokkaido's next-busiest stop.