Nabe and Kotatsu

Surviving and learning to love winter in Japan

Hello reader, thanks for being here! I’m Kana and this is the Sunday edition of Tending Gardens, which you can read about here.
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My first winter in Japan

Kamikatsu in the snow (outside my window)

Growing up, I had only visited Japan with my family in the summer months. I had a one-dimensional image of Japanese weather: humid, hot, and sticky. It was the heat that makes the air feel dense and no matter how many times you showered to cool off, just breathing would make you sweat.

As an adult, I remember visiting Japan in the spring for the first time. I was in Tokyo wearing a light jacket and holding an umbrella and thinking, ‘huh, this is nice, this is really nice’.

When I decided to move to Japan in late October, I realized it would mean that I could experience different seasons and I could revel in the beauty of autumn foliage (koyo) in autumn. But what would I discover in winter?

I had no strong impressions of Japanese winters other than of snowy mountain tops and snowboarding friends referencing the incredible powdery snow.