Sapporo Japan Temple

That a new Mormon temple would be constructed in Sapporo Japan, was announced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 3, 2009 at the 179th General Conference of the Church in the Saturday morning session.

The site for the Sapporo Japan Temple is at 1-620-5 Ohyachi-Nishi, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, Japan. The site is 9.8 acres. The parcel of land is on the Atsubetsu River, adjacent to the campus of Hokusei Gakuen University. The land was once occupied by the Shin Sapporo Golf Center and offers convenient access from the Hokkaido Expressway and the Ooyachi Subway Station.

The Sapporo Japan Temple was designed with inspiration from Asian architecture. The temple will anchor a complex of supporting buildings including an Arrival Center, a Patron Housing Facility, a Temple Missionary Housing Facility, a combined home and office for the Japan Sapporo Mission, and space for a future meetinghouse. The grounds will feature distinctive trees and plants, large landscaping stones, and a pond and waterfall spanned by a pedestrian bridge.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Sapporo Japan Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormons") was held Saturday, October 22, 2011, amidst wind and rain, marking the beginning of the Church’s third temple in Japan and sixth in Asia. Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Church’s First Quorum of the Seventy presided at the groundbreaking. He was joined by Elders Michael T. Ringwood and Koichi Aoyagi of the Seventy.

The goal to qualify for a temple on Hokkaidō was five stakes (groups of congregations).

This will be the third temple built in Japan, which has 29 stakes and 14 districts. Sapporo is Japan's fifth largest city and is located on the northern island of Hokkaidō.

There are presently two Mormon Temples in Japan — the Tokyo Japan Temple (1980) and the Fukuoka Japan Temple (2000).