Snow ... a test post

This is a picture of the snowfall in the foothills of Miyoshi, in the Bihoku area of Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. I took it from an upstairs window two weeks ago. Snow in Japan is big news both here and abroad.

Trawling the world's press to see how it reports on all things Japan-related is a habit of mine. Often quirky and stereotypical, you'll usually find news on stunning new toilet-technologies, or feats of work-related stamina, or solo adventurers camping in the craters of active volcanoes. However, the latest Japan news from England centres on the more serious effects of the large snowfall on the Japan Sea side of the country. I even had an email from a friend in Wales asking if I was under four metres of snow. I'm not.

I checked out the BBC website yesterday for Japan related news and most of the reporting about the snow problems appeared sane and well balanced, certainly compared to some of the English language news sources here in Japan. Many of these tended to be of the tragic-yet-dramatic variety - "Elderly Woman Trapped in Heavy Snow Freezes to Death" (this was alongside the snappy headlines "Man Stabbed Parents Because They Wouldn't Drink His Miso Soup" and "Pin-up Queen Finds Range Of Emotions While Playing Robot").

The BBC had a slideshow of "snowfall in Japan" pictures. It can be seen here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4592056.stm

I suppose I was not altogether surprised to see the first slide showing Mt. Fuji and the second a geisha - a clear reminder to all English readers that this was Japan and not Bolton that we were talking about. The more prosaic pictures are in slides three, four and five. They tell their own story. Some people up north are having a really tough time.

Here in the foothills in Bihoku we had our fair share of snow and did our fair share of shovelling. Biceps are bulging in our neighbourhood. The snow came before Christmas, and despite having none since the turn of the year, it seems to have no intention of leaving us.