Sapporo Lake

This guide to Sapporo Lake, tucked into a valley near Jozankei, opens with the near total silence of a reservoir the wind can barely reach. It traces the dam back to a 1970s Hokkaido proposal that locals resisted, the eleven years of construction that followed, and the public contest that gave the finished lake its plain, proud name. You'll hear why paddlers who get blown around on open water come here instead, and what waits at the top of the four hundred sixty steps that climb the dam's face. Time your visit for whichever shoreline viewpoint matches the season you're in.