My First Winter Experience: Snow Lovin'

It's my first time to experience winter because I always go to Japan during spring time, and I have once visited Korea during autumn. However, I've already seen snow because two years ago, I was able to catch the last snow fall before spring and I have visited a ski resort before the snow melted. 

I came back to Japan on November 28, 2013. The temperature at that time was around 7 degrees Celsius. Then as days passed, the weather became colder and colder. The first snow fall happened on December 11. I realized it isn't that cold when it snows. It's much colder when it doesn't snow. As of now, January 31, the coldest weather I have probably experienced was at -13 degrees Celsius. This happened one day at around 6 to 7am.

the view from our balcony

the view from our apartment's lobby (2nd floor)

the woods somewhere beside the main road

I love it when it snows. I like it most especially at night when the surroundings is super white and bright, reflecting the light coming from the moon. It also feels magical seeing snow falling from the sky. I also love the challenge of putting away the snow that piled up on our car's windshield. 

trees covered with snow

silent night

was wearing the wrong boots 'coz I didn't know it would snow

the street covered with snow

safe and sound :)

my cousin's Suzuki Swift covered with snow

I enjoyed doing this haha

In terms of clothing, well I love winter fashion. haha! I normally dress up with 3 layers of top. One fiber heat inner blouse, then a knitted longsleeves, and my outer cover is either a thermal jacket or a thick coat. For the bottom, I either wear jeans or thick stockings/tights under my shorts or skirt. It wasn't really as cold as I have imagined. Probably, it helped that I arrive here during the transition from autumn to winter, that my body was still able to adjust to the weather. I guess it would be a lot harder if I arrived here at around mid-January because it would be hard to adjust instantly from the hot weather of the Philippines to that super cold one of Japan. 

like a Japanese school girl :))

ready with my pink thermal hoodie

it's so fun playing in the snow :))

this was at J-Mart, a shop that sells a lot of house stuff, including garden stuff

The winter halo, even before it was experienced in the Philippines, I first witnessed it here in Japan. It was so nice and magical!:)

Now that I have experienced four seasons, I can't really choose which one is my favorite. Each of the four seasons has its own character. Winter for me seems magical because of the snow flakes falling from the sky and having a pretty view at night as the snow on the ground, with the help of the moon, illuminates the surroundings. Spring is romantic, seeing cherry blossoms in full bloom, with petals falling off the branches as the wind blows. Autumn reflects adventure and drama. Adventure because of its bright colors that make trees so beautiful; but drama as trees go bald, and autumn leaves start covering the grounds. Summer means fun. The beach, sand, and waves are just irresistible.

Winter feels too cold; but I have yet to experience the coldest of winter because they say, February is the coldest month of winter. 

the neighborhood

the white mountains :)

the snow-capped Mt. Fuji (view from the highway)

xoxo,

city girl :)

My "FIRSTs" in JAPAN: Yuki, Sakura, Onbashira

YUKI (Snow)

In Japan, we live in Suwa-shi, Nagano-ken. It's a province so during winter-spring, it's really cold there and it even snows. Luckily, I was able to catch the last few snow of Winter-Spring transition.

 in the neighborhood

Speaking of snow, we actually went to the Kuruma Yama (Mt. Kuruma) to experience the last day of ice skiing. The ice was about to melt at that time 'coz it's already Spring.

SAKURA (Cherry Blossoms)

Sakura trees actually look boring, not until you see them bloom during the 1st few weeks of Spring. I was there in Japan during the last week of March and the Sakura flowers haven't bloomed yet. They bloomed only in the first few weeks of April, and they fell at around the middle week of May. There's even a Sakura festival where people gather under the long strip of Sakura trees. These trees actually looked good on the sides of the streets, most especially at night 'coz they were lighted up by lanterns. Such a pretty view.

at our neighborhood park/playground

Sakura haven't bloomed yet

at a park with lots of Sakura trees

Tsubaki flowers

 like the other families, we also had a picnic at the Sakura-filled park

ONBASHIRA FESTIVAL

I also felt happy having witnessed the Onbashira Festival which happens in Suwa only every 6 years. According to Wikipedia:

Onbashira (御柱祭) is a festival held every six years^[1] in the Lake Suwa area of Nagano, Japan. The purpose of the festival is to symbolically renew the Suwa Taisha or Suwa Grand Shrine. "Onbashira" can be literally translated as "the honored pillars".

The Onbashira festival is reputed to have continued, uninterrupted, for 1200 years. The festival is held once every six years, in the years of the Monkey and the Tiger in the Chinese Zodiac, however the locals may say "once in seven years," because of the traditional Japanese custom of including the current year when counting a length of time.

Onbashira lasts several months, and consists of two segments, Yamadashi and Satobiki. Yamadashi traditionally takes place in April, and Satobiki takes place in May.

Yes the festival takes place somewhere near our neighborhood. And it was all over the news. People walk up into the mountains to cut the huge trees and they bring these trees down. At times, people get hurt physically as this event takes place. Some even dies. Most of the people participating are oldies but they're really very strong. They even cross rivers while carrying the huge logs. And the best part of all is their costume that looks something like this:

So those were the "firsts" that I have experienced while I was in Japan.:)