Your Shopping/Dining/Entertainment Scene

Food Shopping

Major department stores in Hokkaido include Daimaru, Parco and Mitsukoshi. You can buy an extensive range of clothing, shoes, household goods and electrical items from these department stores, but they can be expensive. Discount variety stores such as Don Quijote often sell less expensive clothing, along with household goods and electrical items. Hokkaido is also home to Nitori (Japan’s answer to Ikea) where you can buy household goods.

Goods

Major department stores in Hokkaido include Daimaru, Parco and Mitsukoshi. You can buy an extensive range of clothing, shoes, household goods and electrical items from these department stores, but they can be expensive. Discount variety stores such as Don Quijote often sell less expensive clothing, along with household goods and electrical items. Hokkaido is also home to Nitori (Japans answer to Ikea) where you can also buy household goods in many locations.

Entertainment

The What’s on in Sapporo has an extensive entertainment guide to activities in Sapporo and is published every month. The guide lists community events, exhibitions, live music (including jazz, rock, classical and country), theater, lectures, fairs, concerts, and children’s activities – many of which are free.

At the cinema, keep an eye out for boys-day and girls-day discounts since on some days the cinema offers tickets for ¥1,000 each. You may also use your student card to get a reasonable discount. The Sapporo Cinema Frontier Complex is located within Sapporo Station and is very close to the Sapporo Campus. The other major cinema in the city is United Cinemas located within Sapporo Factory.

Dining Out

Hokkaido cuisine relies on the simplicity and natural flavors of the ingredients. Crab, scallops, and salmon are local specialties and restaurants specializing in these delicacies are quite common. Genghis Kahn, a lamb barbecue named after the Mongolian warrior, is unique to Hokkaido and extremely popular at beer halls throughout the city. Many Genghis Kahn restaurants have their own original sauces in which the lamb is either marinated or dipped after grilling. Ramen shops are also very common throughout the island and offer hot bowls of noodles in miso, soy, or salt-flavored soups.  During the spring, summer, and autumn months, you can also often pick up freshly grilled corn on the cob from street stalls throughout the city.