After a bit of doom and gloom in the last post, here’s something that made me chuckle.

It seems the penguins in Asahiyama Zoo (Hokkaido) are getting fat, and now have to be taken for walks.

Actually, it’s getting damn cold here. For the last two weeks when family and friends were here, it was quite chilly at night and during the early morning. But once the sun came out, it warmed up quite nicely.
Things feel a lot colder now. We officially had some snow on Sunday night in Tokyo, about 22 days early. It didn’t stick though, and since then it’s been clear and dry here.
Of course, we live on the Pacific coast, so it’s dryer here in the winter. The Sea of Japan side of the country is getting a hell of a lot of snow at the moment. Far more than normal it seems according the news this morning. Niigata, which suffered a big earthquake last year, is suffering a lot. Many of the houses up there are damaged still, and residents have to clear the snow off the top of the roofs (often it’s waist height) to make sure the roofs don’t collapse.