Pachipro said:
I'm sure you'll have no problem finding anime shops. I think one of our members lives up there somewhere. I'm sure he/she can answer more fully.
I guess that could be me.
Personally one of the first descriptions I read about Sapporo before I lived here was "Japan's most liveable city"... Well, not having lived in every major Japanese city, I'm not qualified to confirm that for sure. What I can say, is that you'd have to create something pretty fantastic to top it.
Sapporo is Japan's fifth biggest city, with a population of nearly 2 million. However it doesn't feel anywhere near as big as it sounds, mainly due to the fairly compact city center. This means that everything including the business district, nightlife area, shopping malls, main hotels, the central park area and government offices are all within easy walking distance of each other. Short walks are in some ways fairly essential given the fact that we spend at least 4-5 months of the year under a very heavy blanket of snow. In fact Sapporo has one of the highest annual snowfalls of any city in the world.
One thing that many guides don't tell you, is that a significant percentage of the center of the city is actually underground, which is again due to the severe winter. Although I live a fair distance out in the suburbs I can make my journey to work every day (including about 15 minutes of walking) without ever having to go above ground.
Good things to do include (obviously) skiing and snowboarding with a number of resorts a fairly short car, bus or subway ride away. Susukino (the main entertainment area) should really be considered the nightlife capital of Japan. Amazingly over 3,000 bars, restaurants and clubs are crammed into an area not much bigger than 10 city blocks.
The city government really should be applauded for trying to create a very active and varied programme of events and festivals throughout the year including the world famous snow festival, the beer festival, yosakoi soran dance festival, and even a film festival. Most of these take place in Odori Koen, which runs like a green ribbon through the middle of the city. It's fairly rare for there not to be some kind of major event happening during almost any given month.
We also have a resident baseball and soccer team, both of whom play at the state-of-the-art Sapporo Dome built for the last soccer world cup. Being a fairly big population center we also get a reasonable supply of bands and artists playing at the Dome. In the past year or so it has hosted Green Day, Avril Lavigne, the Eagles, Eric Clapton, Aerosmith (I think), and a wide selection of other concerts including all of the big Japanese acts.
The surrounding
Hokkaido countryside itself is often beautiful and at times breathtaking and a drive or train ride to the other side of the island will take you to Shiretoko which has just been listed as a United Nations World Heritage site. There are also a number of active volcanoes and if you're feeling brave (and can stand the stench of sulphur) you can even go down into a steaming, bubbling crater. There are a huge and varied number of onsens and there is nothing quite like sitting in a piping hot outdoor bath in the mountains, surrounded by snow.
There is a healthy although not huge foreign community, and being a large city, foreigners are not usually treated with the wide-eyed surprise that might be more common out in the countryside.
To answer your specific questions:
Shops: yes, everything you need including a fantastic and huge new 7 floor mall called 'Stellar Place', a new designer outlet mall called 'Rera', and 'Sapporo Factory', a mall, cinema and entertainment complex in converted industrial buildings. Not to mention the hundreds of shop up and down the main streets.
Games Arcades: 2 SEGA Worlds, a large 6 or 7 floor Sugai, and a Namco Station in the city center and other arcades out in the suburbs.
Anime shops: Of course - this is Japan! It's not really a personal passion so I don't know names, but there are plenty of shops around.
There are a few pointers to get you started, but I think it's probably better if you ask burning questions you really want to know the answers to, rather than me rambling on at length, as I'll only really be telling you what you can already find in any tourist guide. Personally though, I can't think of anywhere else in the world I would rather live.