What a weekend! I prayed for snow and got a blizzard! It started coming down at about 3:00am Saturday morning (I know, because I was still up from the night before, waiting in anticipation!). After a few hours sleep, I woke up at about 7:30am, jumped out of bed and threw the curtains open, wild with excitement! What I saw, however, was not nearly as spectacular as I was expecting… basically, it just looked like mother nature had given the ground a light dusting of sugar. I thought to myself, “well, that was disappointing”. But there was no way I could have gone back to bed at that point… in fact, the adrenaline got me through the entire day without even feeling tired. For a girl who needs her 8 hours, that was pretty remarkable.
Mid-morning, the winds had picked up and the snow was starting to accumulate. The forecasters had predicted a blizzard late afternoon/early evening, so I knew it was now or never! I bundled myself up in my warmest clothes, threw on my rain boots and off I went. I left my house feeling on top of the world, eager to explore my wonderfully transformed neighbourhood. Everywhere was just so beautiful. How much does snow change the landscape! I went to a famous shrine in the area, Gotokuji, and was blown away by how magnificent the wooden pagoda looked against all that white. THAT is really something not many people get to see!
It was all so magical but the weather was increasingly getting worse. A couple of hours later, I returned home; cold, wet and numb! I could barely press the shutter button on my camera. It was worth it though. The snow continued all afternoon, getting heavier and heavier. It finally came to an abrupt stop around 10:00pm, and was replaced by rain. Boo.
By Sunday morning, half of the snow had been washed away – either by the rain, or people cleaning up. The sun was out and the sky was blue. I was tempted to stay under my warm kotatsu (heated table), but all I could think about was going out to take more photos! Gotta make the most of every opportunity, right! So I headed to Shinjuku for the day.
The storm ended up being the worst to hit the region in 45 years. The 27cm of snow in Tokyo caused trains and buses to be cancelled, planes to be grounded, workplaces to shut down, and the whole city to go on lockdown. It was an epic 24-hour ‘snow apocalypse’!
Celia in Tokyo 
Wow beautiful pictures! I love how you measured the snow falling on a bicycle seat!
We have had a lot of snow this year but I haven’t had the chance to click pictures, mostly because the snow falls are on weekdays, and by the weekend the snow is all dirty or mushy! Waiting for a blizzard weekend. :)
“I was tempted to stay under my warm kotatsu (heated table), but all I could think about was going out to take more photos! Gotta make the most of every opportunity, right! ” – exactly my thoughts :D
Love the snow rabbit too, pleasant change to the usual snowman :D
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Thank you :) :) Actually I found it a bit challenging taking photos in/of snow. It’s hard to get the light balance correct, especially when it’s sunny. I blame my camera for any bad photos haha. I hope you get a blizzard weekend, too, then! But take care!
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Nice and informative photos. Very brave of you for going out and taking them, but it was worth it, right?
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To be honest I didn’t realise how bad it would get. When the wind got stronger, the snow felt more like ice and all I could think about was getting out of there! But, it was SO worth it!! I would have regretted it if I had stayed home.
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Hope you made snow angels!!
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Hehehe, I really wanted to. I did make a snowman though… but which collapsed and got buried in snow after an hour haha.
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Beautiful photos, snow is so pretty to photograph in black and white!
Tamara
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Hi Tamara! I’m (kind of) looking forward to next winter so I can play around with more photos in the snow.
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