Snow in Hokkaido
Hokkaido is the north island of Japan, which has dry, cool summer and long cold winter. Dry, cool summer was all I cared about at that time and while people in Japanese embassy were convincing me to stay off Hokkaido and its cold winters, I was determined that North was exactly what I wanted.
First snow was a fairy tale, with snowflakes dancing all around me in a calm evening. I would walk and walk on the streets of my university; sound of the snow under my feet making me feel like walking on the cloud. I thought I would never want that snow to melt. However, my feelings started changing little by little, as snow was still falling in April, and cloudy gloomy weather hanging over SapporoThe largest city in Hokkaido and the fifth largest in Japan by population. It is home of the famous Sapporo Breweries and hosts the annual Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival).. It was still impossible to use bicycle so everything seemed very far away. As June and July passed by weather did get warmer but still was not comfortably warm. August was a sudden strike of heat and I guess it was all you could call “summer in Hokkaido”.
Autumn came in September and it is the most beautiful season in Japan or maybe in the whole world; leaves turn yellow-red and it is all amazing! I felt very happy since somehow I was sure that the snow won’t fall until December. But I was so wrong! Tender beauty of colorful autumn was covered by snow in October! It is not usual of course for snow to fall that early, and for me it felt like a great strike of misfortune. I almost cried as I watched my favorite season getting buried under the snow.
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