Former Hokkaido Government Office Building, Sapporo

It is pretty good, free tour of the building. Most exhibits only have descriptions in Japanese tho.

It's nice of Hokkaido government still open to public, however, the building itself has been worn out, if they can renovation or maybe charge for entry.

Visited in the summer. The garden is beautiful. I don’t advise entering the building (a museum) itself though, because it isn’t air-conditioned and the exhibits aren’t worth braving the heat. There’s little shade in the grounds, be forewarned. Across the street, there’s a place called Akarenga Terrace where you can view this building in the shade.

Picturesque old red brick building, and very nice park surrounding it.

The museum is awesome. It contains a well arranged version of the history of Hokkaido, and a very verbose introduction of why the Japanese want the Northern islands(and perhaps even Karafuto{樺太}, Southern Sakhalin) back from Russia. Japan's logic is that the islands and Southern Sakhalin were territories that Imperial Russia had ceded after the Russo-Japanese war, and Russia's logic is that Japan relinquished control over those territories after WW2. Whether you agree with Russia or Japan, it's worth reading for an hour or two of your time... for no fee at all. If you liked Hokkaido, I can promise that this museum is head and shoulders over most paid museums. The museum shop(baiten), however, is woefully understaffed and the lone lady had a very difficult time dealing with 4-5 customers buying various omiyage. I bought some stuffs from the shop too, but I think the real deal is the stuffed 'Kitakitsune' sitting in the back shelf of the cashier. The Kitakitsune is only 3800 yen. Buy him! Or I will buy him the next time I visit Hokkaido :)