Voice of foreign students: life
Until last time, I’ve introduced the voices of foreign students in the view of study and culture. Then, I will introduce the voices about life. Some voices overlap the previous ones which were mentioned in the view of culture.
A student was so impressed because Sapporo is so quiet with less stress. The city block is easy to understand due to the grid pattern. There are some mosques in the city and some large department stores have pray rooms. It is quite helpful for Muslims. On the other hand, some complained about the food. For example, there aren't many spicy foods in Sapporo. Chinese restaurants use Japanese seasoning, and their foods taste like Japanese foods. Fruits are very expensive. There are few shops and restaurants which sell halal foods.
In terms of climate, it is so cold in winter, but underground malls are useful. About English, it is difficult to talk in English at banks or the city hall. In short, although it is comfortable to live and study in general, there are still some difficulties for foreign students in terms of foods, climate, and languages. Some issues may improve as times goes by.
Source: City of Sapporo 2015, Survey on attracting foreign students, viewed 8 March 2017, <https://www.city.sapporo.jp/somu/machikiso/documents/ryuugakusei.pdf>
