spring for real

while flowers and bushes have just started blooming here (early april), things happen a lot earlier back in Japan. last year, in the third weekend of february, i was in Kamakura (a temple town south of Yokohama, also used to be the capital of the country, back in the first millenium, i think), and the plum trees were already in full bloom. it was quite warm, for the season, and the weather was gorgeous. i was really surprised, cos a week earlier, i'd been to a hotspring in northern Japan, and there had been 5m of snow and it had been -5C outside. and there i was, a week later, baking in the sun and taking pics of the flowers...