神林はきれいだよね〜

I've got a crapload of stuff to upload, which I am going to attempt to do all this week. First, I'll share with you how freaking gorgeous it is where I live. Even though it rains/snows a lot, that doesn't at all subtract from the beauty.

First off are some pictures I took around Christmas of last year. No snow yet...



The silver building is "Paru Parku" (Pal Park), which is where I teach my eikaiwa class (adult English conversation class).


Next up is a pond in Kamihayashi called 大池 (Ohike). In winter, a buttload of swans from Siberia descend on the Murakami area. They particularly like this pond, and they've learned that its the spot to get a free meal -- on weekends the place is packed with people toting bags of bread.



Again, so those pictures were all taken around Christmastime. A mere 3 or 4 weeks later, however, someone flipped the switch:

And holy crap, did it snow...

大池 again, this time with snow.




Cooooooooooooome and geeeeeeeeeeeeet iiiiiiiiiiit.



I think this is what the person who invented the word "cluster@#$%" had in mind...

Probably my favorite thing about where I live is that I am equally far from the mountains (pictured earlier) as I am from the beach. Takes me 10 minutes or less by car to be at the Japan Sea, 20 or so to be in the mountains on my snowboard.


日本海 aka the Japan Sea. The tetrapods are used in many places throughout Japan to prevent erosion.


Awashima, a little island off the Murakami coast.


Another lovely shot of the Murakami sunset. You can never have too many of those.

So, I will finish this post by saying you all should come and see it for yourself, cause these pictures really don't do it justice.