It snowed about ten days ago; when I blogged on it, it was just a light dusting in the morning. It continued to be somewhat heavier than that, but still didn’t amount to much. Today has been a bit more snowy; it started early morning, and has continued all day, leaving a much thicker layer of white over Tokyo. And it figures, too–the first day I planned to really get back to birding, and this hits us. So I have to be satisfied with snapping a few photos of snowy central Tokyo out the window.

So, Sachi and I are holing up in our cozy apartment, watching TV (Sachi loves Boston Legal) and generally being lazy. Usually Sachi goes for homeopathy lessons at a private school, but they cancelled classes today. As I may have pointed out before, Tokyo doesn’t tolerate snow well–most likely half the train lines are out right now.

News reports have several train lines out of service, dozens of flights cancelled, the Shinkansen (bullet train) slowed or halted, at least 16 snow-related injuries, highways closed, and a major marathon race with 20,000 participants in western Tokyo called off.

They say that 3 cm of snow has fallen. That’s a hair over one inch. Those of you in regions that operate normally through several feet of snow can stop laughing now.

Staying home can have its benefits, though; I get more of Sachi’s cooking. We do split cooking duties, but there’s little use denying she’s a lot better at it. Last night, it was pasta with chicken and pork with a tuna sashimi salad and strawberries in yogurt flavored with fresh lemon juice on the side. The photo doesn’t do it justice.