Sakura Forcast

Apparently it's that time of year again. Yes, the national pastime that is cherry blossom viewing has begun. Each evening on the nightly news features the latest advancement of the sakura front. It'll still be some time until it reaches up toward Iwate, but that doesn't mean locals here are any less enthusiastic. I've included a link that illustrates the latest extent of the blossoms. Prime viewing extends for just a week upon blossoming, and many events are timed to precisely coincide.

This year has been an exception, with the blossoms coming into bloom particularly early. So early in fact that the national meteorological agency had to issue an apology for it's inaccurate calculations. It blames a computer glitch, but many locals blame the unusually warm winter.

Japanese Real Estate

Finally got around to posting some pictures of the interior of my apartment. I've put them in the same order you'd see as if entering through the front door and taking a tour up through to the second floor.




Selling points include the open-pit toilet near the entrance - complete with a view for those passing by on the street .... "prison-chic" barred windows, and bathroom with communal drain!


First floor contains: toilet, kitchen, bathroom, and tatami room. The later being more of an all-purpose junk pile.



















Second Floor has my bedroom and a living-room of sorts. Over the winter I've stayed holed up in the bedroom as it's the only room with a properly working heater. One benefit of this however, is having the kitchen double as a second giant refrigerator. I haven't had to worry about leaving anything out to go bad as the room itself has been colder than the fridge!








Even though the place has its shortcomings I know I'm really lucky. It's huge as far as the Japanese standard goes, and I have it all to myself!

Shizukuishi

Taken after an day of learning to snowboard at Shizukuishi.