My Arrival in Japan

After arranging to have my to bags delivered to the Kakizakai house, I ventured forth into the train network with only my daypack, computer shoulder bag and my bow and arrows. I had arrived early morning, so, I was able to watch the changing landscape as I progressed from the airport to Tokyo and then out again to Chichibu. I was told that it had been a record warm winter in Tokyo. No snow. This had caused the cherry trees to blossom early and I was just in time. All the way along the track, there were white blossoms in view.

At the first change of trains as I made my way through the station, I was very pleased that I wasn't attempting to manuever the two bags that I had left at Narita. At one point, I got on the wrong train, right direction and somehow I made it through the confusion with my limited Japanese and managed to change back to the correct train. The last leg of the journey the train started to move up in elevation and I realised that we were going much further into the mountains than I had imagined would be the case. We passed through small villages winding through mountain valleys until we came to the small plain in which Chichibu is located. It is a larger town than I had imagined.

A call from the station and Megumi, my teacher's wife came with two of her children and picked me up. Kaoru, my teacher, was away at a festival and so Megumi made me feel at home. She had a spare bicycle for me to use and the next day she took me on a ride through the part of town that has become my main haunt. Most everywhere that I need to go is within five minutes ride on my bike. A nice thing here is that you are allowed to ride on the footpath and bicycles are still a major form of transport. Though, there are a lot more cars than thirty years ago. Most are very small box shaped vehicles. The rego laws are very strict here and a car is not very old when it won't pass the inspection. So, most all the cars are very new and kept in very good nick.

Chichibu being higher elevation, the cherry blossoms were just beginning when I arrived. Four days later, it turned cold! I mean cold. It snowed on the nearby peak as you can see in the photo. Kaoru said it is very rare for it to snow after the blossoms have arrived. I tell you, I was glad for my fleece vest and long underwear. After a few days it warmed a little and we even had one day when it was tshirt weather. However, it went cold again and my third week, it went even colder and the snow got even thicker on the mountain. I was wishing for that down jacket that I left in storage.