JR Tower Observatory T38
JR Tower Observatory T38 is an observation deck on the 38th floor of JR Tower in Sapporo offering 360-degree views of the city, a café, gift shop, and an award-winning toilet. With my Sapporo-Furano Area Pass, JR Hokkaido was offering a Free Gift Campaign which included a visit to JR Tower Observatory T38 and a free cake and drink set. After lunch, I headed up to JR Tower Observatory T38 for my welcome view of Sapporo.
JR Tower Observatory T38 Entrance at Level 6
JR Tower Observatory T38 is access from JR Tower Level 6 which is the same floor as restaurants.
Heading in to JR Tower Observatory T38.
Regular adult tickets cost 740 yen.
JR Tower Observatory T38 Ticket Counter
Heading to the JR Tower Observatory T38 Ticket Counter to exchange my voucher for the ticket.
I handed over the coupon for the JR Tower Observatory T38 entrance ticket, and the A4-sized voucher for the cake and drink set.
I was given my actual ticket and cake and drink set voucher.
JR Tower Observatory T38 Lift
Heading to the lift to go up to the 38th floor.
This is a dedicated lift for the JR Tower Observatory T38 only.
There’s a map overlay of Kyoto and Paris on Sapporo in this lift.
The top of the lift features a compass.
JR Tower Observatory T38
JR Tower Observatory T38 has a large walkway around with large windows offering views of Sapporo.
The floor map of JR Tower Observatory T38.
The anti-clockwise walk starts off with the north view.
The roof of Sapporo Station points out directions to various landmarks when looking down from JR Tower Observatory T38.
Towards the west, the railway line goes on to Otaru, Kutchan and Niseko. In future, the Hokkaido Shinkansen will go on to Tokyo.
The series of scissors crossovers at Sapporo.
Next along the loop is the west view.
Binoculars are available at 200 yen.
Seats are also placed facing out for visitors to enjoy the view while having a seat.
The west view out of JR Tower Observatory T38.
The south view out of JR Tower Observatory T38.
T’Shop
On the south view, there is the T’Shop selling souvenirs.
T’Café
The T’Café is where my coffee and cake set can be redeemed at, which I’ll come back to it later.
At the southeastern corner, there is a piano, but with the seat barricaded with a queue pole.
The east view has the main heavily-used railway line going on to New Chitose Airport, Asahikawa, Wakkanai, Abashiri, Kushiro, Hakodate, and Tokyo.
Restroom with a View
The male toilet at the northeastern corner offers a great view while using it.
For those who are not male, the wheelchair-accessible toilet offers a great view out to the north side.
Over in the male toilet, the urinals face out to the east side so you can continue enjoying the view of Sapporo while you, well, pee. Just be careful not to sprinkle anywhere.
Souvenir Coins
Souvenir coins are on sale from machines near the lift.
There is also a retro name engraving machine for your coin if you would like to personalise it.
JR Tower Observatory T38 Cake and Drink Set
Once done with my look around JR Tower Observatory T38, I returned to T’Café to redeem my complimentary Cake and Drink Set with my Sapporo-Furano Area Pass.
There were quite a number of choices of cakes and drinks, and I decided to go for an Apple Crumble Cake with an Americano, perfect for a tea time snack.
This Cake and Drink Set is worth 570 yen if purchased in cash without the voucher, so JR Hokkaido was very generous in giving the free entry ticket and a cake and drink set to tourists, which is about 15% of the cost of the Sapporo-Furano Area Pass already.
The Apple Crumble Cake was served with ice cream and cream, which went well when eating it together with the cake. You can’t go wrong with ice cream and cake.
My Americano was also great to balance out the sweet dessert, and keep me ever so much slightly more awake after my sleep on board Scoot TR890. It was a better sleep than I had bargained for, but lying on 3 seats and sleeping for about 4 hours is still not much compared to a proper hotel rest.
To complete my afternoon at JR Tower Observatory T38, I ordered a Sapporo Classic for 530 yen to start my Sapporo trip. If you can take alcohol, you really can’t visit Sapporo without trying Sapporo Beer.
Heading back to the elevator once I was done with my visit, just in time to check in to my hotel.
No queues here, just call for the lift like anywhere else in the world.
Heading into the lift back down.
There’s a map overlay of Tokyo and New York on Sapporo in this lift.
The top of the lift features a compass.
In true Japanese service fashion, there is a small side stool if you need to take a seat during the lift journey.
There is another souvenir shop beside the ticket counter once back down on the 6th floor, before exiting the JR Tower Observatory T38
Heading back out to Sapporo Stellar Place mall.
Conclusion
The JR Hokkaido Sapporo-Furano Area Pass Free Gift Campaign offered for foreign tourists with a complimentary visit to JR Tower Observatory T38 and a free cake and drink set was a nice touch by JR Hokkaido for a good starting point to a Hokkaido holiday in Sapporo, and to me, it felt like a welcome back to Sapporo and Japan. The costs Sapporo-Furano Area Pass 9000 yen, so with the JR Tower Observatory T38 visit costing 740 yen and T’Café cake and drink set costing 570 yen, this was a really great deal with the pass, and I haven’t even started maximizing it on train joyrides yet.