Weather Shock
I am not fond of January or February. It wouldn’t be right to say that I do not like them. I like them just fine. But I like other months better. It’s about the cold and the snow, you see. I like snow, but mostly to look at from the warm indoors. I like to walk in snow, but only for a little while, unless it is falling. I love falling snow. I love to walk in falling snow, especially at night when it has the effect of muffling the sounds of the world. I can shovel snow, but I don’t look forward to it. Mostly, January and February are just so loooooong (and cold), even in Tokyo.
But then comes March. In Canada there is a saying that if the month of March comes in (begins) like a lion (with bad weather), then it will end like a lamb (with gentle, warm weather). And, if it begins like a lamb then it will end like a lion. So if March begins really warm and pleasant do not sit back feeling satisfied that winter is finished. I have no idea how true the saying is. Statistically, it could very well be true, considering the 50-50 chances of good or bad weather at any given time. When I was growing up in the 1970s my family made the 24-hour road trip to Florida every March Break holiday and it was exile rating for my brothers and I to go from cold and icy Guelph in the early morning, drive several hours and stop for a late lunch at a rest area in Tennessee where it was suddenly balmy. And what a drag it was to go from sunny and hot Florida (where we visited my grandparents at their retirement mobile home park) back to icy Guelph. Weather shock!
March began really nicely in Tokyothis year - sunny and warm with a bit of gusting wind. It felt really good on the face in the morning of the 1st although by evening it was frigid cold again. I have cherry blossom season to look forward to by the end of the month. Or not, because I have never, ever actually gonecherry blossom viewing here. I have only seen the trees in parks, or along the banks of rivers in passing, and regretted that I could not enjoy them. The reason is because the crowds of Japanese make it not only impossible to see anything, but equally impossible to enjoy it as well. The Japanese have a propensity for taking beautiful things and making them ugly while cultivating a cultural myth that there is a close-to-nature culture with refined artistic sensibilities.