In Tokyo, spring has come with a vengeance. The wind blows through the city so ferociously it knocks over bicycles and a couple times has stopped me in my tracks. I am nervous about hanging my laundry outside, for fear I’ll have to run clear to the next prefecture to retrieve it! I hereby strip Chicago of its nickname. Never until Tokyo have I been in a house where I couldn’t tell if it was the wind or an earthquake rattling the walls. It is definitely spring here!

But, while many parts of the U.S. are still are buried under snow, Tokyo is still waiting for our snow. The season of spring officially began this week, and the national meteorological society declared this the first winter on record without a snowfall I don’t mean a “not recordable” snowfall. I mean that I did not see a single flake this year. There was a rumor going around that a few snowflakes were spotted in the northern part of the city in early February. However, that has yet to be proven!

Not that I’m complaining or anything. Spring is coming early this year. The flowers are blooming, and that is the most beautiful thing of all in Japan. The temperature is slowly warming, and while March is windy (to put it mildly) and unpredictable, the worst of the winter looks to be over.

But it would have been nice to see a little snow.

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