We had a pretty dry month for January, and finally had a bit of snow on the very first day of February. It was a wet snow that turned into rain pretty quick and the whole thing disappeared all too soon, but there was still enough snow to cover the roofs and grounds for a while - and for me to get outside and play around with snow and this little guy. You can see the resulting short photo story here (on my Japanese blog - this particular entry is mostly about just photos, but you are welcome to look around if you don't mind
The last time it snowed this much in Tokyo, as far as I can remember, was back in January 2006; I blogged about it then. Now looking back, it was probably heavier than this time - actually, that may well have been the heaviest snow I have ever seen in Tokyo. But really, we never have much snow around here, so any snow is better than no snow, as far as Tokyo is concerned. (That is, of course, unless you have to commute by car or on public transport - Tokyo isn't built to handle snow well, even just a light one).
The other day I was just going through my past blog posts and photos, and realized that exactly this time two years ago I was in Nagano on a short trip for onsen - and snow. Yes, a lot of it.
It was a brief weekend getaway, a quick but relaxing one that involved rides on an old train, ekiben lunches and kaiseki dinner, temples and shrines, and yes, snow. I have a set of photos from the trip here (as slideshow), while I briefly mentioned it in a blog post here. It was a fun outing, although it's rather shocking that it has already been two years since the trip.
Now we are still having some cold days, but the day is getting longer and the air warmer - you can tell the spring is slowly, but definitely on its way. Meanwhile, you might remember I wrote about Japanese winter vegetables and promised a post about nabe or hot pots. Well, after a couple of weeks I am still in the middle of writing it (not that I have been on it 24/7 for two weeks straight, of course), and I have to admit that it seems to take a little while more. I hope I can wrap it up before spring arrives for real...
Now I'm having a cup of hot chocolate (the last one of these - white chocolate and raspberry) and getting back to work. You all have a good weekend! -c x
