Yuki Daruma

Shortly after arriving in Japan, we found a postcard with a picture of our local temple (Zuisenji) in deep snow. We wondered what we had let ourselves in for, but since then in fact we've only had at most one snowy day per year. Yesterday was this year's turn, and this is what Zuisenji looked like this afternoon.

About 100 deaths have so far been attributed to snow in the western and northern regions (often people falling off their roofs or getting buried under snow while clearing them - others being crushed under the house itself when it collapses due to the weight). Here in the sunny east, conditions are nothing like as severe.

There's something about a flat expanse of snow that gives me an irresistable urge to build a snowman. In Japan, they are called yuki daruma (snow doll).