Former Hokkaido Government Office
A red brick American-style building from 1888, known locally as the Red Brick Office, in a garden with ponds in front of it.
Two and a half million bricks
Completed in 1888 in American neo-baroque style, the Akarenga — Red Brick Office — was built from around two and a half million bricks fired in Hokkaido and served as the island’s seat of government for eighty years. It is one of the clearest physical expressions of what Hokkaido’s development actually was: a colonisation project run on imported American technique. The gardens in front, with ponds and mature trees, are free and open, and the building reopened after a long restoration.
Explore Former Hokkaido Government Office on the map
City locations, drawn from our published destination data. Attractions, hotels and restaurants are not mapped yet.
What to look for
A building and a garden, both free.
🧱 The building
- Neo-baroque brick with an octagonal dome
- A star crest above the entrance — the emblem of the colonisation commission
🌳 The gardens
- Ponds and mature trees in front, open at all hours
📜 Inside
- Archive and exhibition rooms on Hokkaido’s development
Getting there
Between Sapporo station and Odori Park.
🚶 On foot
- 8 minutes from Sapporo station
- 10 minutes from Odori Park
🚇 By subway
- Sapporo or Odori stations, both close
🎫 Entry
- Free; the gardens are open outside building hours
When to visit
The setting does the work, so the season matters.
🍁 Autumn
- Colour in the front garden against the brick
❄️ Winter
- Snow on red brick, which is what the building is photographed for
🌸 Spring
- Blossom around the ponds in early May — Hokkaido runs a month late
Visitor intelligence
Free, quick and next door to everything else central.
🔨 Restoration
- The building has been through long restoration works — check what is open inside
📷 Photography
- From across the front pond, with the reflection
🗣 Language
- Bilingual panels in the exhibition rooms
♿ Access
- Gardens are flat and step-free
Frequently asked
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