Sapporo Snow Festival

It was 57th. Amazing! I didn’t know the Snow Festival had started so long ago. I think this is the wisdom of people living in a snow region. It is a positive thinking of enjoying a snowy life.
On my way from school to my home, I used to make dolls and animals by snow. Also in the yard, we used to make a slope and a hut called “kamakura” by snow. That was part of an everyday life in a snow region.

If you would like to know the details of Sapporo Snow Festival, access to the URL below.

http://www.snowfes.com/english/index.html

(Large Snow Statue)

(Live at Snow Statue)

(Excellent! Ice Sculptures at Susukino)

Hills in Biei

Biei is located at the center part of Hokkaido and famous as “Hill Town.” Last week I was visiting Hokkaido. This was my third visit to Biei. It took only sixteen minutes by bus to access to Biei from Asahikawa Airport. The owner of the pension I stayed had moved from Kyoto ten years ago in order to spend a slow life in nature. He guided me to many places in a van to take pictures. There are wonderful encounters in Biei through all seasons.

(Shirahige Fall)

Shirahige: White beard

Mt. Bandai

Twenty years ago we climbed Mt. Bandai (also called “Aizu-Fuji”) in summer, with a baby on my back. The height of Mt. Bandai is 1819 m. When we came down 30 minutes from the top of the mountain, there was a space called “Kobo-Shimizu.” We set up a tent there. At night we were able to see the Milky Way clearly. The photo below is Mt. Bandai seen from the north (back) side in January.


The photo below is taken at Lake Akimoto early in the morning. In the snow field there were various footprints. Someone said these footprints were a fox’s ones. We found a rabbit’s, too.