Let it Snow

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Japan is a very safe place even for travelers. This made me worry-free and thus can fully enjoy the trip. Its travel industry has also been very well developed. Although local Japanese cannot speak well English, adequate tourist information centers are provided at every attraction. So it should be an ideal place for "free-walkers" to travel by their own without joining the tours. Wanna know about the most memorable trip of mine? I would say it must be the one I had this Lunar New Year. Japan usually snows in November to late February. Especially in Hokkaido, it's usually below negative five. With my feather coat and Gore-tex jacket, it was still freezing. Sometimes the snow even comes with strong winds. Then you can hardly open your eyes and your eyelashes would be coated with snow. Besides, it was just too dry and cold. It felt like my cheeks were going to crack. But it will be a great fun to take pictures of yourself with "white mascara", both cheeks flushed and dressed like an Eskimo: tremendously thick feather coat with another thick Gore-tex coat on top, clumsy leather gloves and a pair of "big, big boots" with three socks inside? Still, I enjoyed watching snows of different kinds fell from above. Sometimes, it appeared as hexagons. Sometimes it was spherical. Under the moonlight, it became the brightest marshmallow you had ever seen. Of course, snowing does not make Japan a unique place. It just makes it more interesting. To me, its food was even more fascinating.