Winter?

This morning there is a beautiful, fresh, cold wind blowing with the smell of snow. It takes me back to West Virginia, or Montana, or Washington state after a fresh snowfall.

It is nice and clear in Tokyo today and as usual there is little or no chance of snow, although it has been heavily snowing in other parts of Japan for the last week or so. Too bad!

Tokyoites cannot stand real cold weather. When I visited Kyoto---hardly the coldest place on earth---a taxi driver told us to come in the winter because there were very few visitors then. When I mention this to people in Tokyo, they say "eeewww! Cold Kyoto!!!"

Anything below about 60 degrees is cold in Tokyo. They are like Texans and start putting on jackets at 75-80 degrees. The worst thing is that when it does get cold out, people tend to turn up the heat in offices and department stores to the extent that you sweat. While shopping, you have to take off your coat and carry it or give to the bag holding people who will keep it in storage while you shop (for a small fee).