Snow, there´s snow. On the street, on the cars, on the roofs. Everywhere snow. It´s almost 7°°. Toothbrushing, shaving, Speedshowering. It´s snowing, What should I do. Confusion. Mitsumine? Tokyo? Ahhhh.....

Doodling...

Nagatoro has everything from which I wanted to take a picture when it´s snowing.
Nagatoro. Today is the right day. Everything will look different. I don´t have to fear that my memories will vanish or overlapping. " Do one thing everyday that scares you." Alright, he said so, I will go for it.

The train is quite empty. The light is fantastic. Everything looks different. Not the usual bored faces in the train. Today I can see every detail in their faces. Their age, their life, their mood. I´m happy.
The train was late, so I lost the connection in Kumagaya. 40 minutes- daydreaming. I´m the only person in this car of the rapid special service. Silence, only the juddering of the wheels on the tracks. I could go forever in this train. The scenery is running by, cars can keep up for about 10 seconds, then they vanish in the wall of snowflakes.

Nagatoro is empty. No tourist as far as I can see. I´m the only one who gets off here. The last time there have been hundreds of people at the station and later moving through the narrow streets. Now there´s only one old man. He wears a helmet, has a cigarette in his mouth and walks with his umbrella along the street.



Down at the river I can see, that I´m the first person today. No footsteps. So I find my way through the white picturesque scenery. Ok, my memories are still alive. There was the guy playing the japanese flute for his truelove. The sounds echoed at the rocks on the other side of the river. Now there´s nothing. Silence. Not a word is disturbing this fantastic moment.
I could stay here forever. Daydreaming.



I make sure that the japanese snowflakes dancing with the same rhythm like the european pendants. Isn´t it great just to stand and to watch, to hear, to smell and to taste the snow. I love this feeling. No matter what will happen this day is perfect.

After a while I started to make a friend. He looked happy when I was finished. (I´m the one with the cap)



Time to move on. At the shrine a japanese first asked me where I´m from, what I´m doing here and so on. The normal procedure, but then he wanted to take a photo of me. The first time someone asked me for a photo. So we did a photoshooting in front of the shrine in Nagatoro.
At the shrine are more people than on downtown Nagatoro. They all seem to be happy today. I´m glad to see them enjoying the snow and the day. It makes me feel satisfied.

Some more pictures at the cemetery before I start hiking up the hill. I have seen some adverts that the plum blossom should be on right now. Well, we will see. The way winds up the hill through the forest. Again silence. I´m not the first one on this path today. There must have been a whole group. However I don´t meet anybody until I reach the top. The adverts was right: plum blossom. It´s not possible what I feel for the following minutes. I´m there. No sound around me. The only thing I see are this path, the snow and the plum blossoms. It smells like spring but it´s winter. I stay there at this place for 10 minutes or more, only deep breathing. I have my eyes closed. The snowflakes hitting my face, the smell in my nose and this absolute silence...




This is a perfect day!

I´m sorry, but I have to do this one in german.


Jetzt sind sie also verheiratet. Ich habe es gerade in den Tagesthemen gesehen. Dazu hatte ich nur einen Gedanken den Hans Zippert vor mir schon einmal öffentlich geäußert hatte:

"Ich habe beide CDs zu Hause und ich kann die nicht mehr hören. In dem Moment wo ich weiß, die ist mit dem zusammen - das geht nicht."

Everything is covered in snow (the frozen water, in case you wonder). Minimum 2m high.
Ok, maybe it´s only 0,5 cm, but everything is covered.

I have no time to lose. I´m not sure if I still should go with the Chichibu line to Mitsumine or better take the train to Tokyo to get some nice pictures.... Difficult question. I have to ask the

oracle of Tokyo

.


Yupp, I knew. Tokyo city only snow rain. I will take the chichibu line. Either to Nagatoro or Mitsumine.