Sapporo Japan Temple to Open for Public Tours

The public is invited to visit the newly completed Sapporo Japan Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The First Presidency of the Church has announced the open house will begin on Friday, July 8, and continue through Saturday, July 23, 2016, excluding Sundays.

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Following the public open house, the temple will be formally dedicated on Sunday, August 21, 2016, in three dedicatory sessions. The day before, youth of the Church in the temple area will perform in a cultural celebration honoring Japan’s history as well as the history of the Church in the country.

The temple is located at 1-6-1 Ooyachi-Nishi, Atsubetsu-ku Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, Japan.

The 48,480-square-foot Sapporo Japan Temple sits on 9.8 acres with the statue of the angel Moroni on top of its single spire. The temple will serve more than 8,000 Latter-day Saints who live on the island of Hokkaido and in Aomori, the northernmost prefecture of the main island of Honshu.

The Sapporo Japan Temple is the Church’s third temple in Japan and, when dedicated, becomes the 151st operating temple worldwide. The two other temples in Japan are located in Tokyo (dedicated in 1980) and Fukuoka (dedicated in 2000).

Latter-day Saint temples differ from the meetinghouses or chapels where members meet for Sunday worship services. Temples are considered “houses of the Lord” where Christ's teachings are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism and other ordinances that unite families for eternity. Inside the temple, members learn more about the purpose of life and make covenants to serve God and their fellow man.