Local Host

Kurt Ackermann is an associate professor in the English department of Hokusei Gakuen University junior college, located in Atsubetsu ward, Sapporo. His interests include tourism and environmental issues.

Welcome message

Dear conference delegates, welcome to Sapporo, and a very sincere welcome to Hokkaido from me and from the Asia Research Association, the organisers of the 2020 Sapporo conferences.

Located centrally in Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of Japan, Sapporo is the prefecture's main gateway. The Hokkaido Shinkansen began service from Aomori in Honshu to Hakodate in southern Hokkaido in 2016, but most visitors from overseas arrive through Sapporo and its airport in nearby Chitose city. As the transport and financial hub of Hokkaido, Sapporo attracts visitors for tourism and for business.

Sapporo has a well established transport infrastructure adapted to its winter situation, giving it some of the widest streets in Japan once the snow has melted, which it certainly will have by August. After the short spring brings green to the city, temperatures rise and people like to get outside, to have barbecues, or to visit Odori Park, which runs from east to west through the centre of the city. From the TV Tower at the eastern end of Odori you can enjoy a view to the west that takes in the park and the large hill ski jump at Okurayama.

The ski jump hill was used in the 1972 winter Olympics, the 2007 Nordic World Ski Championships and the 2017 Asian Winter Games. There is an observatory here, and next to the ski jump you will find the Sapporo Olympic Museum. In Sapporo the possibilities for winter sports are almost limitless, and the experience may convince you to return in winter.

Hokkaido is also famous in Japan for the quality and variety of its food, and Sapporo has more than its fair share of treats. Seafood is famous, of course, but Sapporo also introduced soup curry to the world, and a delicacy to close out busy evenings, called shime parfait, is a popular local innovation.

Sapporo is a city developed with the input of people from all across Japan. One of the things I like most about the conferences organised by the Asia Research Association is the diversity, both of the fields represented in the presentations and of the participants themselves. It can be very refreshing to attend a presentation from another field, and I strongly recommend that all participants attend at least one seemingly unrelated presentation. You might be surprised at what you learn and at the new contacts you make.

Enjoy this opportunity both to share your research and to experience Hokkaido.