Study Japanese in Sapporo

Blog: Sapporo diary

sitatte sapporo

sitatte sapporo

New symbol zone, “sitatte sapporo” is a new shopping facility near Sapporo station. It is connected with Chikaho, underground walkway. This facility has several restaurants, cafes, and shops. It opened on 4th march. By the way, the name of this facility is written with small letters, somehow. I visited this facility few days after the grand open. Actually, this facility is not so large. Its interior is made of wood and visitors can sit down at the wooden stairway at the centr

Refre Sapporo

Refre Sapporo

Refre Sapporo is a complex facility which includes Sapporo International House. This building is 5-story and has some offices about the city of Sapporo. Sapporo International House has a gymnasium, summing pool, large hall and running course. These rooms are mainly used for interacting between foreigners and citizens. The foreigners are mainly peoples concerned with JICA which has an office next to this facility. I visited this facility a few days ago. It was so large and com

Sapporo ii-one stadium

Sapporo ii-one stadium

Sapporo ii-one stadium is an all-weather indoor sports facility. It was established by local companies in 2011. Basically, it is used for futsal, but it also can be used for other purposes including practices of Yosakoi dance. There used to be a local TV program which broadcasted futsal games played in this facility. I didn’t watch it because it was broadcasted at midnight. The viewers must be futsal freaks. This facility is located near a subway station and by “Shiroishi Ko

Skating

Skating

If you come to Sapporo from a warm country, winter sports may be a good experience. One of them is skating. I went to Tsukisamu Gymnasium to skate a few weeks ago. Tsukisamu Gymnasium was built in 1971 at the old bicycle racetrack site and used for ice hockey games of Sapporo Olympics. Rugby, the Japanese art of archery, and tennis games are held at the athletic field next to the gymnasium. Hokkaido bank curling stadium is also next to this gymnasium. Although it was built mo

Marui-Imai

Marui-Imai

Sapporo Marui Mitsukoshi is a company which has department stores in Sapporo. One of its department stores is Marui-Imai and it was known “Marui-san”. Although Marui-Imai has been loved by local people, it has bankrupted 3 times. In 2009, Marui-Imai was acquired by Mitsukoshi-Isetan holdings, a major department store group. Marui-Imai had been a major department store in Hokkaido since the pioneer days. Although it started as a small shop, it had developed due to its diligent

BISSE

BISSE

If you start studying in Japan, you may open your bank account firstly. In Sapporo, you can also do shopping at a bank. BISSE is a shopping mall located right by Odori Park. This shopping mall is in a building which was built as a headquarters of a local bank. There are about 30 shops and restaurants in this mall. The basement floor of this mall is connected with Chikaho, an underground walkway between Sapporo station and Odori station. Although there are many fashionable sho

Kitara

Kitara

It may be a good idea for international students to enjoy listening to music of concerts from time to time during studying in Japan because it is not necessary to understand the Japanese language perfectly for listening music. Kitara is a concert hall located in Nakajima Park. This hall is a home of Sapporo Symphony Orchestra. Mainly classic concerts are held in this place. Many concerts have been held at this hall. Soon after Kitara was established, I visited there to see ka

Chieria

Chieria

It is important for not only domestic students but also international students to secure places to study by oneself. Chieria can be one of them. Chieria is a complex public facility and it is also called Sapporo Lifelong Learning Research and Development Center. This large facility is located near Miyanosawa station of subway Tozai line. It is possible to go into the facility from its ticket gates through buildings directly. Chieria has four facilities, "Lifelong Learning Cen

Sapporo Chuo Library

Sapporo Chuo Library

There are some city libraries in Sapporo. Sapporo Chuo Library may be the biggest one of all. This library is located near Mt. Moiwa. It operates from 9:15 to 20:00 on weekdays and from 9:15 to 17:00 on weekends and national holidays. Up to 10 books can be borrowed for 14 days with the library card at one time. There is no fee to borrow books. Not only reading, some students are studying in this library. In addition, Magazines and newspapers can be read and some of them are i

BIC CAMERA

BIC CAMERA

BIC CAMERA is a mass retailer of home electronics. This retailer sells not only cameras but also home electronics, personal computer, toys, games, sports goods, travel goods, medicine and so on. For now, it has 35 stores all over this country. In Sapporo, its store is in Sapporo ESTA which is located next to the bus terminal of Sapporo Station. As it has good access to transportation, I often go to this store. Last time, I went there to buy a whiskey. It sounds strange that h

Daimaru

Daimaru

Daimaru is a department store. It started its business in Kyoto in the early 18 century. Nowadays, its headquarters is in Osaka. In 2003, it opened up a new store in Sapporo. As the new store is located in JR TOWER which also contains JR Sapporo station, it has quite good access to transportation. It is possible to go to the new store from its ticket gate without going outside. Thus, this new store has become popular immediately and produced the sale the most among the depart

JR TOWER

JR TOWER

JR TOWER is the station building which has the entrance of Sapporo Station. This building consists of the tower part, the central part and the department store part. This building contains a hotel, a department store, a cinema complex, several clinics and offices and four shopping malls containing many shops and restaurants. It is quite convenient to go shopping or have meals in this building since it is connected to the station. Especially, it is a big advantage to be able t

Sapporo station

Sapporo station

Sapporo station is the busiest terminal station in Hokkaido. This station is connected to suburb stations and major cities in Hokkaido by many lines. This station has dramatically changed since the new station building was built in the early 2000s. A major redevelopment around this station was conducted at the same time. As a result, the area around Sapporo station has more characteristics as a commercial aria. By the way, Hokkaido University is located in the north area of t

Hokkaido University

Hokkaido University

Hokkaido University is a national university in Sapporo. It predecessor, the Sapporo Agricultural College was founded in 1876. The motto of this university is “Boys, be ambitious”. Dr. Clark remarked this phrase when he left. Since this school invited foreign teachers to introduce western science and technology in the early stages, one of its philosophies is “Global Perspective”. Nowadays, more than 1,500 international students have come to this university from all over the w

Aurora Town

Aurora Town

Aurora Town is an underground mall which is lying from Odori subway station to the Sapporo TV Tower. It has about 50 shops which include fast food restaurants, a convenience store, and a bookstore. This underground mall is surrounded by some important buildings like the city hall, the citizen hall, the post office, banks, and a department store. Thus, there are many occasions to pass through this mall. This underground mall has some attractions from time to time. It used to h

Pole Town

Pole Town

Pole Town is one of the underground malls in Sapporo. This underground mall lasts for about 400 meters between Odori station and Susukino station. By the way, another underground mall is called Aurora town. Now, these underground malls celebrate the 45th anniversary. I sometimes pass through this underground mall. It is quite convenient to move to Sususkino area from Odori station since I don’t have to worry about the weather such as snow or rain. It seems that the locals ten

500-m gallery

500-m gallery

500-m gallery is officially known as Sapporo Odori 500-m underground walkway gallery and is located between subway Odori station and Bus center mae station. This gallery used to be temporary and it has become a permanent facility since 2011. This is the longest museum of museums in Japanese stations. Admission fee is free, of course. Artworks made by artists in Portland are displayed currently. By the way, Portland in U.S. is the sister city of Sapporo. I saw the artworks a f

Le trois

Le trois

Le trois is a commercial facility opened in 2015. It is located in Odori Street, the main street. An annex of a local department store used to be in this place. The most impressive characteristic of this facility is that it targets on three generations of women. It means that something “beautiful”, “lovely” and “delicious” is available in this facility. For example, there are beauty clinic, dentist, nail salon, esthetic salon, gift shop, pet shop, accessory shop, cosmetic sh

Sapporo Christmas Factory

Sapporo Christmas Factory

Every year, a jumbo Christmas tree is set in the Atrium of Sapporo Factory. This year, the Christmas tree was brought from Hiroo Santaland, Hokkaido. The height of this tree is about 15 meters and it was decorated by LED and ornaments. Since it snowed historically and its access was not so convenient on that day, not so many visitors have come to this place to see the tree. Some of them seem to come from overseas. The guts to come there on that condition should be respecte

Tanukikoji shopping arcade

Tanukikoji shopping arcade

Tanukikoji shopping arcade is one of the oldest shopping malls in Hokkaido. This 1 km shopping mall is located between Odori station and Susukino station and has about 200 shops. Tanukikoji has been popular because it is covered by roofs. Customers don’t have to be annoyed by rain and snow. However, young customers now tend flow into other new shopping malls around Sapporo station. On the other hand, more foreign customers have come to this mall to buy souvenirs. It seems tha

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