Kurt Ackermann received his BA in geography from Carleton University in 1991. He obtained his MSc in environmental management from Wye College, University of London in 2000. He is a Professor at the English Department of HokuseiGakuen Junior College in Sapporo, Japan, where one of his courses is a content-based geography course for non-native (Japanese) speakers of English. His current research interests include Hokkaido and Japanese wolves, the potential for their reintroduction, including habitat availability, tourism opportunities, and other socioeconomic impacts. His diverse research interests also extend to issues of sustainability, renewable energy, and rewilding.

Dear Conference Delegates,

Welcome to Sapporo, “yokoso Sapporo e”, or, as Hokkaido's first people the Ainu would say, “Irankarapte!”

Please accept a warm welcome to cool Hokkaido from me, Kurt Ackermann, and Higher Education Forum (HEF), the organizers of the December 2024 Sapporo conferences.

As the transportation and financial hub of Hokkaido, Sapporo attracts a wide variety of visitors, coming for tourism or business. It has a well-established transportation infrastructure adapted to its unique winter situation, as well as a history of hosting large winter sports events, in particular the 1972 Winter Olympics. Sapporo was in the running to host the 26th Olympic Winter Games, now to be held in February 2030 in the French Alps. Sapporo's winters, while often feeling cold to those from warmer climes, are actually quite mild by the standards of many cities that receive large amounts of snow.

The combination of plentiful snow, modern infrastructure, and (relatively!) mild temperatures makes the city and its environs a true winter playground. For visitors wishing to try their hand at some of these, there are free or reasonably priced opportunities to try cross-country skiing (Nakajima Park), snowshoeing (Sapporo Art Park) and ice-skating. More ambitious visitors may even wish to try downhill skiing or snowboarding. In Sapporo, the possibilities for winter sports are almost limitless.

Although the image of northern winters is blustery and cold snowy days, there are actually many days when the crisp cold air is crowned with a brilliant clear blue sky and if you are at the observation deck of Sapporo's Mt. Moiwa you may experience beautiful vistas of the snow-blanketed city and its suburbs, with snow-covered mountains just to the south and also further to the north beyond the steel blue waters of Ishikari Bay. Just don't forget your gloves and hat!

As Hokkaido is famous throughout Japan for the quality of its seafood and wide variety of food in general, you can restore the energy you use on a chilly winter day with a hearty Hokkaido meal.

The core of Sapporo's transportation system is the subway, developed to coincide with its hosting of the 1972 Winter Olympics and which facilitates the movement of people during the snowy winters. Nevertheless, the recently extended streetcar line also continues to be an important component of the city's transit network. If you are lucky, you may see the 'sasara densha' - a specially modified streetcar that sweeps the tram rails of new snow with its rotating bamboo brushes, starting at 4 a.m. every winter morning and then whenever it starts to snow.

Sapporo is a city developed with the input of people from all across Japan, who gathered in Hokkaido for various reasons. One of the things I like so much about Higher Education Forum organized conferences 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 to allow us to reconsider our perspectives and have the opportunity to be exposed to different ideas and ways of thinking. I strongly recommend all participants to attend at least one presentation seemingly unrelated to your field; you might be surprised at what you learn and the new contacts that you make.

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

Kurt Ackermann is professor and department head of the English department of Hokusei Gakuen University's junior college, located in Atsubetsu ward, Sapporo. His interests include tourism and environmen