Spring IS on the Way! - Late Feb 2007

In truth I shouldn't really complain about this winter in Japan as I missed more than a month of cold weather due to my research travels in SE Asia and according to the weather service this is the first time in many many years that Tokyo has not seen any snow fall (at last not yet!). Last year it snowed 3 times and their were record snowfalls in the Japanese Alps

Even still winter in Japan is akin to fancy winter camping. With the exception of the lack of windchill IN the house, the temps inside and outside are roughly the same during sleeping hours since our non-centrally heated house means either turning off the heat or paying exhorbitant electric and natural gas bills each month. I say luxurious because we do have electric blankets and a very nice bathtub to soak in before hopping into bed ;-)

Crawling out of bed in the morning is just about the worst thing in the world with crisp morning temps (IN my room) around 5-8 degrees Celcius. I am not joking when I tell you that sometimes the temperature INSIDE the refrigerator is warmer than the air temperature in the kitchen! On the coldest mornings the olive oil is congealed though usually settles back into usable liquid form by lunchtime - if we're lucky!

Fortunately the sign that spring is coming has arrived, the early spring ume no hana - plum tree blossoms. Although the national obsession in the spring is cherry blossoms, I prefer the sweet scentted plum blossoms. They come in white, yellow, pink and hot pink and have a fantastic spicy cinnamon-like-sweet smell. I am even on the hunt for ume no hana perfume!

Right now ICU (my university) campus is georgeous in blooming plum trees. This is a view of the Ume trees near Baka-yama (stupid mountain) and Honkan (one of the academic buildings). Its called Baka-yama because apparently students who fail tests inside the Honkan go out to the little mountains to cry about doing poorly.















Here is a close up of the white ume no hana. I am told that the flowers smell more in the evening after the sun goes down.
















Mom this is for you! These are some fuschia ume no hana near my apartment.




















This is the early blossoming Kawazu-Zakura (Kawazu Cherry) tree which blooms a few weeks before most cherry trees.