Winter Hibernation

Hello loyal blog readers! I completely disappeared for the last two months, didn't I? I apologize, I'm back, and I've got some good adventures to catch up on.

To begin with, a big snowstorm swept through Tokyo (and the surrounding Kanto area) yesterday. It was beautiful to watch from inside my cozy apartment, but I was glad not to be out in it or needing to take public transportation. I'm sure the trains were snarled up terribly.

The snow is already quickly melting off, but I got a few good photos before it totally disappears. This year is a La Nina year, so it's likely to be snowier than usual. I was becoming skeptical but then yesterday proved me wrong. I'm curious what the rest of winter will be like. The last time we had snow like this was four or five years ago. (And I'll just add that the iPhone 7 camera is much better than the iPhone 5)

For now here are the snow pictures, but more to come soon: travel, afternoon tea, novelty food reviews and more!

It's snowing!!!

Already melting off the next morning

Possibly the cutest snowman ever?

What a Month

It's been over a month since I've posted anything. Strangely my blog traffic has been up during that time. I like to think that's because over time I've built up resources and valuable information about Tokyo. Or maybe it's just a mystery. But all of that's beside the point. I'm back and happy to be here. 

John and I went back to the US for two weeks just after I posted my last entry. We had some of the most messed up travel plans I've ever experienced, in both directions. But in spite of the inconvenience good came out of it on each end. Due to flight delays we were given a new itinerary departing Japan which gave us a 12 hour layover in San Francisco. My sister lives nearby so we were able to spend a day with her, eating, hiking, and seeing her new house, before heading on to North Carolina. Then a huge snowstorm snarled flights all along the east coast just as we were supposed to return, giving us another day with John's family.

Since I've been back I've been so busy with everything from mountains of laundry to celebrating my wonderful godson's first birthday. There was lots of baking involved! And then last Friday Raku and I participated in the Women's March in Tokyo. It received appallingly bad coverage in English. Both the attendance and REASON for the march were misreported in the Japan Times. Ugh. I honestly don't want to know what was reported in Japanese. But as frustrating as that was, Raku and I carried beautiful signs and marched in a group of 648 people (when only 100 had been expected) - men and women of many nationalities, sharing our concerns and showing our solidarity with marchers around the world.

North Carolina Snow

I made this!!

Double Birthday Celebration

Tokyo Women's March

Early Spring in Tokyo

Yesterday was the first official day of spring in Japan. It seems so strange to me that spring could start so early, only compounded by the fact that it's been sleeting and snowing all day long. But the longer I think about it, the more I think I understand. While the weather might still be what I associate with winter, the first week of February is when the ume (Japanese plum) flowers start blooming. 

They're not as famous as the cherry blossoms, but I love that even in the month when we're most likely to have snow in Tokyo, trees all over the city are bursting out with pink, white, and purple flowers. In fact, I can't think of a better reason to designate it spring. So while all of you over there in the west face the rest of winter I'll be trying to ignore how cold I am and enjoying the early spring flowers instead.

Adorably matching father and daughter

Glitter nails!

Crazy colored bath salts - a great way to stay warm

Home From Guam

We're back from Guam.  It was a glorious trip, and I plan to write all about soon (especially because there seems to be very little tourist information in English about Guam), but I need a little more time to organize my photos and my thoughts.

I will say that Guam is sort of like if the United States and Japan had a very strange child, and it had perfect weather all the time.  There was some tropical storm about 200 miles away and everyone kept apologizing to us about the bad weather, and by that they meant it was windier than normal and one day it rained for about half an hour in the afternoon.  Seriously, every day the highs were in the 80's the lows were in the 70's, and it turns out as long as there's an ocean breeze John and I don't really mind humidity at all.

So, how did Tokyo choose to greet us on our return?  With snow!  This was the first time I've left Japan since we moved here fifteen months ago (wow!! that's so long) and I was surprised how much it felt like home when we got off the train in Akasaka.  For the first time ever we had a really frustrating experience in Narita airport, normally it's a model of efficiency and politeness but this time a woman yelled at us four times about standing in line (which we were doing just fine), then they wouldn't accept our immigration forms because they were written in pencil (though that was just fine when we were leaving the country), and finally clearing customs the officer asked how long our visit was for and we had to explain we live here.  By that point I was exhausted and ready to scream and we still had the long train ride into Tokyo so it was a surprise to find Akasaka so comforting when we finally arrived, but it's nice to be back in our home.  (Though I wouldn't complain if our home was surrounded by palm trees and beaches either)

John and I celebrated our third anniversary on this trip, the first time we've managed to properly celebrate.  I love him more than I could possibly say, so I wont bore you all by rambling on and on about that.  But I've got a pretty wonderful life.

Sunglasses Selfie

Paradise

Coffee, trying to stay warm in Tokyo

George Clooney for Kirin Green (basically light beer) was here to welcome us back to Japan

Around Akasaka

It's warmed up just the tiniest bit, and most of the snow has melted off, but there are still some cute snowmen hanging around.  I ran across this cute little guy wearing an instant ramen bowl as a hat. They're predicting more snow this weekend, so maybe there will be even more snowmen next week. I'm so excited to be on the beach in just a couple weeks!

Life is good in spite of the cold.  Today I saw a couple walking a ton of poodles, and one was being carried in a bag. Maybe he's got a hurt paw?  It's impossible not to smile though when a horde of little dogs goes running past you. Raku and I also got samples of the newest drink that Starbucks will be rolling out on February 15 - the Sakura Latte.  Sakura season is always big at Starbucks, they have limited edition tumblers and drinks that sell out quickly each year.  Last year I tried the sakura white hot chocolate and my eyes almost popped out from a sugar overdose. The sakura latte is a lot more enjoyable, but I suspect a full cup might still be too sweet.  It has the same sakura sprinkles/flakes on top that are really pretty, but they're where a lot of the super sweet flavor comes from.

In other news I made ribs in my slow cooker over the weekend and they were delicious!  It's not easy to find that cut of meat here, but Costco came to the rescue - a whole rack for only 1200 yen!  It easily fed 4 people! I also got some really great chipotle bbq sauce there too.  Honestly, it can be a pain to get there, but having a membership is soooo worth it!  Especially now that I know you can takkyubin (mail) the stuff home.  They'll ship anything that isn't perishable.  Raku and I normally split a huge box, and it only costs about 1000 yen.  Then we can haul more fresh fruit and cheese home with us on the train.

The dog on the right is wearing a sweater with floppy bunny ears on it. 

So pretty, but soooo sweet.

Snow Adventures

Yesterday Tokyo (and lots of Japan) was hit by a really big snowstorm.  Now, if you're from the Northeast or the Midwest maybe it wouldn't seem like such a big deal, but to someone from the south, and to everyone in Tokyo it was massive.  I've read reports that central Tokyo got 30 cm of snow which is a foot!  I didn't really believe it, but after stomping around on our roof this morning I'm more convinced.

So how did John and I spend our snow day?  Sitting on the couch watching the snow fall and drinking hot chocolate?  Making soup and having a netflix marathon?  Building a snowman in our neighborhood?  Oh no, we were much more foolish than that.  John had read about a liquor store about an hour outside of Tokyo that he wanted to visit.  Have I mentioned that John has become quite the bourbon enthusiast of late?  And we had been planning to go out to it.  We woke up to the falling snow and almost canceled our plans, but John checked the trains and they still seemed to be running on schedule.  We thought it might be nice to see the snow out in the country and take some pretty pictures, so we bundled up (not nearly enough) and headed off.  We made it out to where we were headed in Kanagawa prefecture with no trouble, and then had a freezing cold fifteen minute walk in the gusty snow.  The store itself was a little bit of a letdown, though we did get a nice bottle of champagne on sale.  So we rushed back to the station hoping for, but unable to find, a taxi on the snowy streets.  That's when things got interesting.

We needed to take a local train 3 stops to get on a rapid and then ride back into Tokyo where we could switch to the line that we lived on, but the trains were delayed.  We waited about 15 minutes for our train to show up, but finally it did.  When we got to our connection for the rapid train things really went wrong.  We waited on the snowy platform and finally our late train arrived and we packed onto it, but the doors remained open and the snow kept blowing in.  After standing there for about 20 minutes an announcement was made and everyone began rushing off the train.  We followed the crowd onto another train and waited there, damp and shivering, for what felt like forever.  Thankfully they closed most of the doors, but left a few open for people to keep boarding.  Eventually they made an announcement that we were about to leave, and then nothing happened.  The next announcement informed us that a switch on the tracks was frozen and they were having trouble fixing it.  After another ten or fifteen minutes of waiting we were directed to a third train.  It seemed like everyone in the whole station was directed to this train, and it was more crowded than any train I've ever been on - the yamanote at rush hour is nothing compared to this!  Finally the train departed, and it seemed like everyone was looking up to figure out what line we were on and where we were going.  It seemed like we were only supposed to go four stops and then no one knew what would happen, but when we got there they announced the train would be going farther, and then later announced it would be going all the way to Tokyo.  At that point the whole jam-packed train let our a huge sigh of relief.  It took over two hours, but finally we made it home! 

Today I read that many trains across the country were just canceled and people were stranded in hotels and internet cafes  in lots of rural areas.  We were so lucky to make it home!   First thing I took a hot bath to defrost, and then we ate some dinner.  That's right, we never had lunch during this ordeal and breakfast was only a cup of coffee and some blueberries - not a breakfast of champions!  Then we celebrated being home with our bottle of champagne - even making Bourbon 75s (French 75s with bourbon instead of gin).  Today the sun is out and the snow is starting to melt, but we've learned our lesson, we're staying inside and keeping warm.

Snowy View

Tennis Court Snowmen

Snowy Rooftop

Bourbon 75s

Snow Day

On  Monday it snowed!  It was beautiful to look out the window of a high rise building and see the snow swirling so far above AND below us.  I heard we got between 8 and 12 cm (not that I measured myself).

I didn't take any pictures while it was snowing, but I did go to the neighborhood shrine the next day to take some pictures before all the snow melted off.

Slush and Flower Petals in the Street

Snow Melting From the Roof of a Well

I love that there is so much green foliage here even in the winter!

Snowy Entrance to Hikawa Shrine

Snowy Ornamental Cabbages

Later in the week I discovered a couple of really cute snowmen near our house.

That's a plastic spoon for a nose!

His eyes are pine cones.

Rumor has it John will soon be making an appearance soon with a blog about computer buying/building in Japan.