So, I'm enjoying the balmy first days of Spring in Tokyo, whereas two weeks ago I was sliding, knee deep in snow just two hours from here (managed to keep my feet if not my dignity). And then two days ago in central Tokyo the snow caught up with me, the temperatures having dropped to the lowest for many a moon. There was the fun of comparing snow depths around the area, a friend winning with 30cm, mine had been a more modest 18cm. And then another friend, in the throws of making a short movie in Niigata, north west Japan, extinguished all bonfires with a whopping two meters.
But as I say, we're now 24C and I may be able to switch off the yukadambo (under-floor heating) until next winter. With the extraordinary help of a good friend, my car is now re-certified (shaken) and instead of costing JPY1.4m as per the dealer, it only set me back ~JPY65k (that's roughly the difference between USD10k and USD500, if you were wondering) (and thank you, without you I'd be wondering lost around the testing station in downtown Shinagawa).
Hay fever season has kicked in in the Tokyo Metropole, although I'm lucky and don't suffer too badly, there are a lot of exploding people around me as I walk into town (I like to walk and when I say "town" I'm referring to the center of one of the largest cities on Planet Earth. Nice walk though. Flu season seems to have passed, it was mild this year but a few friends were laid low for a week or so (I acquired Swine Flu a few years back and that one knocked me sideways). And now waiting for hay-fever to subside, before the next round in May, we're coming to Hanami Season when the entire country sits under the Cherry Blossom, drinking beer and contemplating the world going by. Could be worse.
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