Introducing Hokkaido University
Video 4 (Length 5:46): The Seasons on Campus
Hokkaido University campus is a great place to enjoy the changing seasons.
Let's take a short look at the seasons on campus.
The arrival of spring heralds the beginning of the academic year. In April,thousands of new students enter the university to begin their new life andstudies here. It is a time of making new friends and seeing old friends again
after the winter vacation. Spring is also a time of rebirth for nature. The lastsnows of winter are melting away by the beginning of term. Then, the cherry
blossoms bloom in early May. All around campus there are many flowers andleaves appearing after the long winter months. Spring is a time of new hope,of looking forward, and of fresh starts.
Summer is a very pleasant season in Hokkaido. Unlike the rest of Japan
there is no rainy season in June. At the beginning of June is the Hokkaido
University festival, which usually coincides with the beginning of the nicest
weather of the year. Summer is a time to enjoy the great outdoors. You cansit outside on the grass to read a book, or enjoy a Genghis Khan party withyour friends. Like spring, summer is also a great time to enjoy the flowers inbloom around campus. And as we enter August, there is the long summer
holiday to look forward to, after the end of term exams, that is!
The arrival of autumn means the beginning of the second term. Students areback from their summer holidays ready to begin studying again. The campus
puts on a spectacular display of reds, yellows and oranges in late October.
The university is rightly famous around Hokkaido as a place to see autumnleaves. People come from far and wide to stroll under the autumn leaves andtake photographs. The Gingko Avenue is particularly famous for its brightyellow leaves, but we must not forget the reds and oranges up the central
avenue. The evenings are getting cooler, and as the leaves fall from the trees

we can feel winter approaching.
From mid-December, snow falls regularly in Sapporo. Gradually the campus
is blanketed in deep snow. This can make getting from place to place difficult,and please be especially careful about using your bicycles in winter. But,
there is a serene beauty to the campus in winter. In February, when the snow
is at its deepest, the students have left for their winter vacations. Campus
can be eerily quiet. In March the snows begin to melt. But the melting snowmeans that spring is only around the corner. Another year at Hokkaido
University is about to begin. Another group of students with many hopes anddreams will arrive. Another year will be added to the over 130-year history of
the university.
(Credits)
There have been many people involved in the production of the video seriesIntroducing Hokkaido University ...
Script and Narration:
Philip Seaton
Music:
Mozart, Gran Partita
Performed by members of the Hokkaido Symphony Orchestra.
Conducted by Satoshi Oku.
Photographs:
Philip Seaton, Kimihiro Ito and members of the Hokkaido University Staff
Photography Club,
Hokkaido University Website.
Thanks to:
Hokkaido University Museum,
Hokkaido University Library Northern Studies Collection,

Hokkaido University (Administration),
Satoshi Oku
Masahiro Ejima
Meiji Shoin
andTakashi Tsuchinaga.
For use on the Hokkaido University English II online course and Hokkaido
University Open Courseware. No reproduction, rebroadcasting or reeditingof this video without the written permission of Philip Seaton.
© Philip Seaton and Hokkaido University 2011.