An Introduction to Sapporo

Well, I have been in Japan for a few days now and am beginning to get settled, so I thought I would write up a brief introduction to the area I am staying in.  The city I am living in is called Sapporo; it is the 4^th largest city in Japan and the capital city of the northern island of Hokkaido.  Hokkaido is roughly the same size as Ireland, with a similar population.

Whilst here I will be sharing a typical Japanese house with 3 other missionaries; Karin, Delia and Alyssa.  Karin and Delia are from Germany and Alyssa is from Kansas, US.  Karin is the ‘Onee-san’ (older sister) of the house whilst Delia and Alyssa are much closer to my age (20 and 24 respectively).

                                         This is our house; it was built in the 1970s and as such

                                                    is considered quite old for the area.

The house is well situated; the centre of Sapporo is only a short subway journey away and Sapporo International Church (SIC, the church to which I have been attached), the Japanese Language Centre (JLC, a building owned by OMF where the weekly prayer meeting is held) and Hokkudai University are all a short bicycle ride away (ah yes, cycling...I rather fear this will be the theme of a further Blog post). We are also within walking distance of a good number of convenience stores (I feel ‘food’ and ‘shopping’ are worthy of their own posts so shall not mention any more here, suffice to say I have already tried to drink the dish-soap and do the clothes-washing with the sugar).

In many ways Sapporo is like any city, there are many tall building and shops.  However the city was designed by an American architect and consequently is built as grid; from north to south, and from east to west.  Once you have learnt the appropriate symbols for these directions it does make finding your way about slightly simpler.  I have also been fortunate to catch the tail end of the Sakura (Cherry Blossoms), in some areas it can be very beautiful:

It is currently Spring in Sapporo, the weather when I arrived was rather chilly (and rainy, so quite like home really!) however, even over the course of this week, it has been becoming progressively warmer.  Fortunately (for me, at least) the weather in the summer is much cooler than in the South.  Folks keep complaining that it doesn’t get very warm here; I, for one, am quite happy with this fact!  However, by ‘not very warm’ they do mean in the region of 30 degrees.  I hope I shall be able to continue to cope with the weather into the warmer months.

Sapporo is not a particularly common destination for tourists in Japan, let alone for foreigners; thus I have managed to confuse a number of people as to my purpose here.  Many of the Japanese are curious as to my reason for being in Sapporo; however I have to be careful when I answer this question.  Christianity is largely unknown and misunderstood within Japan; many Japanese therefore view this ‘foreign’ religion with a high degree of suspicion. My ‘official’ answer is that I am a tourist (for three months...without travelling to any of the common sight-seeing areas...) and that I wish to learn more about the country and the culture.  This is particularly important whilst on the University Campus, where Christianity is viewed as a cult and so cannot be talked about freely.  Thus much of our work is building relationships with the people we meet, so that we can invite them to other events and occasions where we can openly discuss the love of Jesus with them.

Prayer Requests:

~ Praise God that I arrived safely (along with my luggage) and was able to pass through immigration without any difficulty.

~ Please pray for the four of us now sharing a house together, Karin, Delia, Alyssa and myself. Please pray that we will all gel well together quickly and will be able to work effectively to further God’s Kingdom.

~Please pray that God will lead me to the people which He wishes me to get to know, and pray that I will be able to invest into their lives in a manner which is meaningful.

~Please pray for courage, that I will be brave in stepping out in my faith and will not shy away when an opportunity arises for me to share God.  Please also pray for prudence; that I will know when it is not appropriate to speak.

Thank you.