Photographed on February 24, 2014. This is the hanachōzu (flower water basin) at Hara Florist.

Photographed on February 21, 2014. This is the hanachozu (flower water basin) at Kawagoe Hachimangu Shrine.

Making the puppet faces! In Nishiokoppe Village, there is a club that performs puppet theater. It’s called the puppet theater club Doremi. They have performed at local daycare centers, elementary schools, and the Forest Museum “Mokumu,” and they have also held shows in Shimokawacho and Monbetsu City. During winter and spring, they spend time making puppets and preparing props and background decorations for performances. One afternoon, we dropped in while Doremi members were gathered. Preparing for performances from summer 2026 onward, they were just shaping the faces and torsos of the characters that will appear. This year’s piece seems to feature humans and several animals. They glued several sheets of styrofoam together, then shaved and shaved, comparing their work with reference photos and shaving again. Areas shaved too much and add-on parts like noses are formed with paper clay and attached to the base. They then paste shoji paper over the surface to build the final shape. There is still painting and sewing of fabric parts to do, so completion will take more time, but I could have watched forever as the members chatted while working—happy and serious at the same time. #Puppet theater #Doremi #Puppet making

Photographed on February 24, 2014. These are the hanachozu (flower water basins) at Kawagoe Hachimangu Shrine.

Photographed on February 21, 2014. This is the hanachozu (flower basin) at Kawagoe Hachimangu Shrine.

Photographed on February 17, 2014. This is the hanachouzui (decorative flower water basin) at Naritasan Kawagoe Betsuin.

Photographed on February 15, 2014. This is the hanachozu (flower water basin) at Kawagoe Hachimangu Shrine, located at the omikuji distribution area.

Photographed on February 22, 2014. I visited Chabudai in front of KAWAGOE COFFEE SELECTION. This is a HOT natsumikan. 🍊 By chance I ran into a follower, and it was fun. 😊

[Winter Wildlife Class] A wildlife class for elementary school students in the village. Adults knowledgeable about hunting and the mountains served as staff and provided opportunities for the children to connect with the nature around them. This time there were two activities: making candles from Ezo deer fat and a winter forest walk. The staff had simmered the Ezo deer fat in advance. We examined materials to see how it had cooled and solidified into white and what it had looked like before that change. While reheating the fat, the children decorated small jars with stickers. After finishing the outer decorations, they shaved crayons into small pieces and put them into the jars to color the candles. The warmed, clear Ezo deer fat gave off its distinctive scent as it returned to the classroom. They poured the fat into jars with a hanging cotton string, stirred so the crayon bits would melt, and left them to set. 🦌 🦌 🦌 After a restroom break, we set off for Miyanomori. The road snow had melted and frozen into a slick surface, but the children, who walk this route to and from school every day, moved along with ease. When we reached the torii gate, we did thorough warm-ups and put on snowshoes. Following the footprints of the staff who had walked the trail the day before, we lifted our snowshod feet high and climbed step by step. The snowshoes, the heavy snow, and the sunlight worked up a good sweat. Along the way we observed animal tracks and the buds on branch tips. When we reached a more open area, we took a break and then began a game of hide-and-seek in the snow. We tried hiding in the shade of trees and behind mounds of piled snow. Two university student staff members did their best to search for us. 🦌 🦌 🦌 Back in the classroom after taking off our snowshoes, the candles had cooled and solidified nicely. Their colors had shifted slightly from when they were hot, and that was beautiful too. It will be fun to try them at home. This concludes this year’s wildlife class. Thank you to the children who participated and to all the staff! #Wildlife Class #Candles #Snowshoes

Photographed on February 15, 2014. This is Hanatetsu's hanachōzu (flower hand-washing basin).

On Friday and Saturday, March 6 and 7, we from Reihoku will also exhibit at the “Kikuchi City and Reihoku Joint Product Fair in Fukuoka (Budoubatake),” held at the agricultural products direct sales shop Budoubatake in Minami Ward, Fukuoka City. The seasonal best of Reihoku’s sea and mountains comes together in Fukuoka! On the day, we will offer many of Reihoku’s proud specialty products. 🎁Fun Feature At the venue, customers spending 1,000 yen or more can enter a prize drawing! 📅Event Details Date and Time: Friday and Saturday, March 6 and 7, 2026, 10:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Venue: Agricultural products direct sales shop Budoubatake (2-1-1 Nakao, Minami Ward, Fukuoka City) Program: Specialty product sales, tourism PR, prize drawing, support from Kumamon, and more. Please feel free to come and visit us ✨

Ski Festival The children of Nishiokoppe Elementary School held their annual ski festival to showcase what they learned in ski lessons ⛷ The recent warmth had turned the snow into a hard, crunchy surface. There were worries it might be difficult to ski on, but the participating students steadily warmed up and skied smoothly. Once everyone was ready, the younger grades started their runs. Their names were announced along with each child’s stated goal for how they wanted to ski, and then they set off. When the younger children skied, instructors sometimes skied alongside them to provide close guidance. Even on less-than-ideal snow, the instructors skied backward with poise and stability. Impressive work. - As a side note, it was a clear, sunny day. The sun was just above the slope when you looked up, and many parents wore sunglasses 😎 Not only the children skiing but also the staff filming for the village broadcast were bathed in sunlight. - As the grades went up, more children skied at faster speeds. After finishing their runs, the children cheered from the bottom of the slope for those coming down. The final skiers, the sixth graders, came down with such momentum that they stopped just at the edge of the area where their juniors were seated, kicking up snow in a dramatic display. You could hear bright yellow cheers. When everyone had finished skiing, we enjoyed cocoa prepared by the parents. The cocoa, warmed in a pot, warmed us through with its deliciousness. Well done to the children, the teachers, and all the parents. #Ski Festival #Ski

Photographed on February 15, 2014. This is the hanachozu (flower-filled water basin) at Kawagoe Hachimangu Shrine.

Tomakomai, known for having relatively little snowfall even in Hokkaido. As you can see, there was almost no snow in front of the station yesterday. However, please be aware that mornings and evenings still get quite cold. Many drivers in the city tend to change their tires from mid to late April. Those who drive over inland mountain passes in Hokkaido sometimes wait until after Golden Week in May to switch tires.

This was photographed at Hinode Bridge on the Biei River in Biei, Hokkaido. On a subzero morning I went to capture the sunrise, and in the cold so intense that even batteries stopped working, I saw others waiting for the sunrise besides myself.

The illumination of the World Heritage site Shirakawago is held only a few times a year. Lately it has become hard to get reservations, and even when you can, finding heavy snow is rare. I managed to go there twice to shoot: the first time there was almost no snow. The second time, however, I succeeded in photographing Shirakawago in such heavy snowfall that walking was difficult. I take landscape photos with gratitude for those encounters.

I went to Oshino Village in Yamanashi Prefecture for a photo shoot one early morning in February. The sky was clear, and I was able to see the magnificent Mount Fuji. The temperature was below freezing; there was no snow, but a white frost covered the ground. Corn cobs were hung out to dry and gleamed in the morning sun, so I took a shot with Mount Fuji in the background. Japan’s number one Mount Fuji shone brilliantly.

I felt the weight of the snow on the trees. I took this in the Hida region of Gifu Prefecture.

I photographed the misty mountains in the Hida region of Gifu Prefecture.

Photographed on February 15, 2014. This is the hanachōzu (flower water basin) at Kawagoe Hachimangu Shrine.

Nagano Prefecture Kirigamine Venus Line. A snowy plain landscape. Deer tracks led across a deep, untouched snowfield where no people had ventured.

Neighborhood scenery

Crystals of light dancing in Taisho-era romance ■Location Ginzan Onsen, Yamagata Prefecture ■Background and thoughts behind the work Ginzan Onsen sits quietly in the deep mountains of Yamagata. On a night when snow piled softly on the streets steeped in Taisho-era romance, I attempted something for the first time. I used the built-in flash to capture the “expressions of snow invisible to the eye.” Until then I had cherished natural light, but that evening I felt a strong urge to make each drifting snowflake shine like a jewel. The instant the flash fired, pure white snow crystals appeared against the dark, and the warm orange glow of the gas lamps contrasting with the cold snow created a dreamlike scene. In the subzero cold I kept shooting until my fingertips went numb, and when I saw the glittering snow on the preview screen, I felt an indescribable emotion. Through my first strobe shoot, I rediscovered the beauty of movement dwelling within frozen time. This photograph is an unforgettable and precious image for me.

Winter silence reflected in a circular window ■Shooting location Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel "Light Cave", Niigata Prefecture ■Background and thoughts behind the work I have long been deeply interested in contemporary architecture and geometric form, and I wanted to capture this space by architect Ma Yansong through my own lens. In the severe cold of February, a silver world spread beyond the tunnel. What I aimed to express in this image was the contrast between the clinical stainless steel walls, the rugged snow-covered mountains of nature, and the water-mirror that blurs the boundary between them. I paid particular attention to the placement of the figure and the balance of symmetry. In the quiet, blue space, a single human step adds a moment when a "story" is born within frozen time. My fingertips felt numb in the subzero air, but when the perfect circle and its reflection aligned through the viewfinder, I felt an indescribable exhilaration. This photograph is a precious memory from a winter trip that closed my study abroad life in Japan, taken while confronting my own sensibility.

Photographed on February 13, 2014. This is HK Tea’s lemon honey and a chocolate-banana egg waffle. Chocolate and banana go so well together. 😊🍫🍌

Photographed on February 13, 2026. This is HK Tea’s lemon honey. 🍋🍯 I love it. 😊

Photographed on January 19, 2014. These are the hanachōzu (flower-filled hand-washing basin) at Kawagoe Hachimangu Shrine.

Daiichi Nagisa Park at Lake Biwa, where early-blooming rapeseed flowers blossom. The contrast between the white snow and the yellow flowers is striking.

Photographed on January 19, 2014. These are the floral hand-washing basin displays at Kawagoe Hachimangu Shrine.

Photographed on January 19, 2014. These are the flower-filled handwashing basins at Kawagoe Hachimangu Shrine.