Hello Everyone,

“Winter is coming”, those famous words of House Stark, from the show Game of Thrones that I wanted to say when I was initially going to write this a week ago. However, winter has already come to Hokkaido!! We just had a snow storm, and now everything is covered in a layer of fresh powdered snow. I must say, Sapporo is seasonally confused. Some of the trees still have green leaves like it’s summer, while others are giving a full display of autumn colors. Now add snow on top of it and you have a mix of 3 seasons! What the heck Sapporo? Please make up your mind.

The snow came so much earlier this year, and I am definitely not ready for it yet. It is actually interesting how my feelings towards the snow have changed during the 14 months I’ve been living here. Growing up near San Francisco, California, it only snowed once in my lifetime, so I was really excited to live somewhere that it snows. In fact, last year, I couldn’t wait for the snow to come! Then when it finally did snow, I was incredibly happy! I spent so much time outside walking around taking pictures of it and playing in it. I felt like a kid on his birthday. That excitement lasted until about the beginning of January when it turned to indifference, and then didn’t take long for me to begin loathing it. By February, I was so ready for spring. I was even trying to find the nearest non-snowy place to go just to get a break from it.

This year, the first snow came on October 20^th. I had just returned to Sapporo after helping Kenta Uchida with his field work over in Obihiro when the snow started coming. It was more like hail then snow though… Then we just had our first real snow storm yesterday and today. While walking to the Hokkaido University campus, I had very mixed feelings. It felt sort of like, “snow is a fact of life”, and with a little bit of excitement, but a lot of wishing it would go away for at least 2 or 3 more weeks.

 

Again, I come from California that has a gloriously long summer season, and a short mild winter. I’m definitely a summer boy. Haha Sapporo’s spring and summer are so short, it almost felt like it never happened. I feel like it was stolen from me too soon… But oh well. The snow is gorgeous, and it’s the perfect time to enjoy onsens and soup curry!! Now if only I can convince Kenta Uchida to go on a winter wildlife photography adventure at some point… >_>

 

~Jason Anders