By Ben Wilford

I and another exchange student Kishan Patel are studying International Business Studies and Japanese at Liverpool John Moores University in England. Although I study in Liverpool in the Northwest, my hometown is Nottingham which is in the middle of England. It's not a very big place (it has a population of about 250,000) but I think it is a very nice place to live.

I arrived in Sapporo during September last year, so I've been in Japan for over five months now. This is my first time in Japan, but I've wanted to come as long as I can remember. Many people have asked me why I wanted to come to Japan but I'm not really sure myself. I can't think of one big reason other than I used to love ninja and samurai movies when I was a child, but I'm definitely glad I came.

Before coming to Sapporo, I studied Japanese for two years but Japan was still very different than I expected. I didn't really have a "culture shock" but it definitely took me a while to get used to Japanese customs. For example, on the day of my arrival I made the typical foreigner's mistake of wearing my shoes as I entered my room. A member of the staff was showing me the room at that time so she let me know of my mistake with a gasp of shock. She asked me, "Do you wear shoes inside your house in England?" She seemed very surprised when I told her that many English people do. We don't just drag dirt in; we wipe our feet on a mat. You only need to take off your shoes if they are very dirty. Since that day I always hesitate when entering any Japanese room, sometimes even when entering public places.

I was also very surprised when I went to a Japanese hot spring. In England, I'd never been to a hot spring so I wasn't sure what to expect. My friends warned me that you cannot wear any clothes in a hot spring but they didn't warn me that the towels are so small! I expected the towels to be big enough to cover a lot of the body (like European style bath towels) but unfortunately they were a similar size to a handkerchief. But the strangest thing was yet to come. Instead of holding the towels to cover their private parts, the men were wearing the towels on their heads. This may be normal in Japan, but I had never heard of such a thing in England, so it looked very strange. The actual hot spring baths are really nice; they are very relaxing and also surprisingly cheap.

If you go to a similar place in England, for example a spa, then it would probably cost at least 50 pounds (about ￥10,000) for an all day pass for a hot spring. That's also something that I love about Sapporo, everything's very cheap. Many things are about half the price that they are in England. For example, in Japan there are 100 Yen shops but the English version is a pound 1 shop (about ￥220). Another example is cigarettes (although I don't smoke). In the average tobacco vending machine in Sapporo the usual price for a pack of 20 cigarettes is about ￥300-350. In England, they are about ｣5.50 (about￥1,100). This came as a big surprise to me. Before I came to Japan, I was told that it is a very expensive place to live. I haven't been to Honshu yet so I don't know how expensive Tokyo is, but I think Japan's prices are very cheap.

Although I haven't travelled much outside of Sapporo, I've certainly acted like a tourist. On New Year's Eve I went to the Hokkaido Shrine in Maruyama Park. It was the first time I had been to a Shinto Shrine so I took an absurd amount of photographs. Some friends and I were also present at the main shrine when a crowd had gathered to wait for midnight. In England, it's traditional to shout "Happy New Year!" when the clock strikes midnight, but when Kishan and shouted, many people in the crowd just looked surprised at us. I learned from that night never to shout something in front of an important Shinto Shrine.

We then were allowed into the main area of the shrine where you can pray for good luck by throwing money and tying paper to a tree. In England, we don't have many New Year traditions so I thought it was very interesting.

Also, quite recently I went to the Snow Festival in Odori Park. I was surprised at both the amount and at the sheer size of the ice sculptures. I had never seen anything like them so I could understand why Odori Park has been so busy during February. My favourite sculptures were the Egyptian style Sphinx and the miniature Himeji Castle. I hope to come back to the Snow Festival after I graduate in England because I think it is very beautiful.

In the future, I hope to travel around all of Japan and see all the different festivals that are held in each region. I particularly want to travel to Tokyo and Kyoto, as many people have told me that they are incredible cities.

I'm having the time of my life here in Sapporo, so I don't want to go home.

"It's good to be back..."

By Kishan Patel

I am also from Liverpool John Moore's University in England. My hometown is Mill Hill in North West London which is on the border of London and Hertfordshire, but I was born in Islington in North London. My ancestors come from India, but both my parents were born in Africa about 50 years ago. I have travelled to many countries (usually on holiday), but I still want to see more of the world.

This is my third time in Japan and the longest I have stayed in this country. I studied Japanese in high school and fortunately I went on two school trips with the school. 6 years ago I went to Tokyo on a school trip with about 20 students for two weeks. I don't really remember that far back but I probably did have a culture shock. On this school trip, for the first week, we went sightseeing around Tokyo and for the second week we went to a Japanese high school and did a home stay. Also, 4 years ago I went Morioka for a week to do a home stay. From what I can remember of them, those two trips were very fun and I learned a lot about the Japanese lifestyle and culture. So when I came to Sapporo in September I already knew what to expect. I had experienced going to a busy city like Tokyo and a small city like Morioka but it was still exciting to experience a new place.

I had done a bit of research about Hokkaido before I came. I knew it was going to be cold but I was looking forward to that because in England it doesn't snow and I love snow. I also knew that food would be good here as Hokkaido is famous for ramen, sushi and soup curry. I settled in quite quickly to home life and university life and have made a lot of good friends and hope to make a lot more. I think Hokkaido is awesome. First of all, people are so friendly here. It is quite easy living here as prices are cheap apart from fruit and vegetables compared to England. I think the weather is great, I love the snow and I finally had a white Christmas.

I love going out with friends to Izakayas and Nomihoudai and I have had many good nights out. I dressed up as the green power ranger for Halloween and for Christmas I dressed up as Santa Clause and went to Susukino. I also love the fact that there are many great places to go skiing and snowboarding and now I realize why Hokkaido is famous for its powder snow. I've been skiing and snowboarding in many different places around Hokkaido. For example, Sahoro, Kokusai and Kiroro ski resorts. I intend to snowboard as often as possible before spring comes to Hokkaido as it is very rare that we can ski in England. I have been in Sapporo for 5 months and still have 7 months to go and I know this is going to be one of the best experiences of my life.