Sapporo

Is Sapporo safe?

Yes. Sapporo is a very safe city for visitors, and we score it 90 out of 100, one point above Tokyo and level with Kyoto. Police across Hokkaido, home to about 5 million people, recorded 33 homicide cases in 2025, and that Japanese count includes attempts. The whole island had 13 bag snatchings all year.

Hokkaido is also one of the calmer parts of a calm country. It recorded 479 criminal offences per 100,000 people in 2025, against a national average of 625 and 701 in Tokyo, according to the National Police Agency. Sapporo itself logged 12,209 offences, about 620 per 100,000 residents, and two thirds of them were thefts. For a visitor the risks are narrow: a nightlife bill, winter weather and, far less likely than elsewhere in Japan, a strong earthquake.

Susukino and bar bills

Susukino, a short walk from Odori Park, is Sapporo's nightlife district and, says the national tourism office, the largest in northern Japan, with bars, clubs, karaoke boxes and a well-known Ramen Alley. It is safe to walk through late at night.

The money is the risk. The UK Foreign Office warns of drink spiking and very large credit card bills in nightlife districts across Japan, not only in Tokyo, and says British visitors have been arrested after arguing about inflated bills. The pattern is the same everywhere: a street tout offers cheap drinks or a "free look", and the bill arrives later. Pick bars yourself, ask for a price list and the cover charge before you order, and do not follow anyone who approaches you on the street.

Street theft is rare. Hokkaido police counted 16 pickpocketings and 13 bag snatchings across the island in 2025. Bicycles are the real target, about a third of all thefts, and police say more than half of the stolen bikes were not locked.

Walking at night

Odori Park, the Tanukikoji shopping arcade and the streets around Sapporo Station stay busy in the evening, and an underground walkway, opened in 2011, links the station area with Odori and Susukino. Most visitors find the city comfortable after dark.

Gallup's 2025 Global Safety Report found that 78% of Japanese adults feel safe walking alone at night, lower than the country's crime figures would suggest. Hokkaido police recorded 154 rapes and 272 indecent assaults in 2025, about 8.5 per 100,000 people. Their own advice for avoiding attacks on the street is to use bright, busy roads and not walk alone late where it can be avoided. Groping on crowded trains is the problem the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary highlights for women, so stand near the doors or other women on a packed train.

Winter, snow and roads

Roads in the city are safe. Sapporo's nine police stations recorded 23 road deaths in 2025, about 1.2 per 100,000 people, up from 15 in 2024. Across Hokkaido the toll was 129, and 71 of those killed were 65 or older.

Winter changes the picture for anyone who drives. Hokkaido police publish separate analyses of crashes caused by skidding and by blizzards that cut visibility, and many visitors rent a car to explore Hokkaido. If you have never driven on packed snow, take the train or a bus instead. On foot, the risk is falling on icy pavements, so wear boots with a good grip and use the underground walkways in the centre.

Earthquakes and bears

Sapporo has the lowest earthquake risk of the Japanese cities we score. The government's J-SHIS hazard model gives central Sapporo a 2.3% chance of shaking of intensity 6-lower or stronger within 30 years, against 6% in central Fukuoka and 47% in central Tokyo.

That does not mean no risk. The 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake, a magnitude 6.7 quake, killed 43 people across Hokkaido and destroyed 469 homes. The Earthquake Research Committee notes that the soft ground of the Ishikari plain, on which Sapporo stands, makes shaking stronger than elsewhere. Turn on emergency alerts on your phone and install the Japan Tourism Agency's Safety tips app.

The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary warns that bear sightings and attacks have increased in parts of Japan, including near towns. Sapporo lists every brown bear sighting online; in 2026 they came from the forested edges of the city, including a group of three on the Mount Moiwa walking route in October. This matters if you hike on Mount Moiwa, Maruyama or in the hills, not in the centre.

Air, water and hospitals

The air is very clean. Sapporo's twelve monitoring stations measured annual PM2.5PM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary of 4.9 to 7.0 µg/m³ in the 2024 financial year, below Tokyo and Fukuoka. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary rates Japanese medical facilities as high quality but expensive, so carry insurance.

For the rest of the country, see our Japan page, and for a southern contrast, Okinawa.

How we scored it

Violent crime (96), traffic (92) and health (91) are near the top of our scale, and walking at night (89) matches Fukuoka. Theft and scams (88) loses points for the Susukino bar-bill risk and bike theft. Natural hazards (79) is the weakest factor, though it is the best score of any Japanese city on our list because severe shaking is far less likely here than in Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto.