The winter is the absolute best time of the year to climb Oyama. In the winter the air is cold and clean, and from the top you can see the whole Kanto area of Japan. Even though I have been to the top many times, the view still amazes me.

My friend Jeff has come back to visit Japan yet again and had asked me to show him somewhere he has not been yet. Another friend came down from Utsunomiya and I took them both to one of the nicest gardens in Yokohama, Sankeien. I had been there already in the spring and fall, but this was my first time to see what the park looked like in the winter as well. After a nice walk around the park we then walked through Motomachi, Chinatown, and up to MinatoMirai for the traditional Tonkatsu.

I made a cake and some pie for my friends birthday.

Our first snow of winter and it was almost a record amount. So much snow fell that people left work early, cars were sliding down roads, and the trains stopped running. I too got to leave work right after lunch and made it most of the way home before the train stopped. I tromped through the snow the last 30 minutes to home, but having a great time all the way. One of my housemates is from India and told me that it was his first time to see snow. Of course we then had to make snowmen.

Outside my house there is a small garden and orange tree. There are also two pots that have our goldfish living in them. It was a very nice atmosphere until the local noisy bird population figured out that it is a great place to drink water, take a bath, and fight with each other. Unfortunately, some of our smaller fish did not survive the ordeal and the house owner was not happy about the bird mess he later had to clean up.