What do you do when FIFA regulations require real grass turf and your city is covered with snow five months of the year? Obviously you plant a grass field on top of a huge mobile platform which can be slid on a cushion of air into a domed stadium for games, then back out again to get sunshine. This is exactly the design of the amazing new Sapporo Dome ( www.worldcup-sapporo.com ), the latest in the can-you-top-this school of stadium design for World Cup 2002 . Seating 42,300 for football games, the high-tech stadium was built on a hillside called Hitsujigaoka, once used for grazing sheep, to the southeast of Sapporo, and oddly enough is said to have a "gardening" theme which somehow brings the local community closer to nature. To see for yourself, head south down the Toho Subway line from central Sapporo to the last station, Fukuzumi. By car, take route 36 toward Chitose.

The dome is home to Sapporo's J. League football team Consadole. Believe it or not Consadole comes from the syllables of the word dosanko (DO-SA-N-KO), the name for Hokkaido natives, pronounced in reverse order, with the Spanish word "olé" added at the end.