Stretching 1.5 kilometres through the heart of Sapporo, this ribbon of green is thirteen blocks of lawns, flower gardens, fountains and public sculpture — the city's communal living room. At the eastern end stands the Sapporo TV Tower, while scattered among the benches you'll find Isamu Noguchi's elegant Black Slide Mantra, a dark abstract sculpture that doubles as a children's slide. In February it transforms into the venue for the Sapporo Snow Festival; in summer, beer gardens sprout along its length. It's the rare park that defines an entire city's rhythm.