Osamu Dazai categorized snowflakes into 7 main different types based on their characters in his book Tsugaru: pink snow, neve, fluffy snow, water snow, hard snow, tough snow, ice snow.
I grew up in southern China where only snowed three times in 15 years in my memory. Thus I do long for those places covered with snow all year let alone having 7 types of snow.
I went for Hokkaido, the northwest island of Japan, in 2020, just before the pandemic started (I got home on Jan. 18, and Wuhan was officially locked down on Jan. 20). The island was so lonely and peaceful under the snow that only in souvenir shops you can feel it’s an island that belongs to Japan and is preparing for the upcoming Olympic games.
I toured around the island and recorded the snow-covered landscape along the way.
Tags: Hokkaido, journey, snow