Light of snow. Yezo deer. Development commissioner. Believe it or not, these are all names of colors.
The city of Sapporo has its own palette of 70 colors that suit its climate and landscape. Builders are encouraged to refer to the colors when painting new buildings to maintain the coherence of the scenery.
Hiromi Miyauchi, a Sapporo native and professor emeritus at Shizuoka University of Art and Culture, chose the 70 colors together with residents, including house painters. In 2000, at the request of the municipal government, the group studied a total of 10 areas in the city to establish a standard for building colors.