Survey, nap, then shovel

I spent Saturday afternoon at work, occupied enough that I didn't notice the progression from light flurries to powder snow falling on Sapporo. In those few hours, the landscape had gone from patches of icy remains to a soft white blanket. On the (extremely) short walk to the subway station, I almost took a dive into the pavement and could have had a look at just how powdery this stuff was. The snow kept on falling after I got home and resumed my hourly trips to the window to observe the snowfall situation (see previous post).

Sunday morning brought the first official snow-shoveling session of the season. That is, for most of the neighbors. I put on my coat, stepped outside, and saw just about every neighbor in full shoveling mode.  Recalling my mantra that nine's a crowd, I did a U-Turn and went back to bed. At about 2 in the afternoon I did my duty. I started by sweeping the accumulated snow off the top of the car. Then it's shovel-load by shove-load to the sidewalk across the street, the designated spot for residents of our apartment building. 

Later, on a trip to the grocery store (where my cart of beer and mayonnaise drew a few glances), I saw the mounds of snow in parking lots, which tractors cleared as I slept (photo above [of the snow, not of me sleeping]). So that's phase one of my adjustment to life in the Snow Country (not to be dramatic). As for the beer, it was a combination of Yona Yona ale and the big bottles of Sapporo, the latter thanks to some gift certificates from my wife's grandmother back in Mie. She also sent mikan. 

From Oregon, with beer

I may have mentioned my fiancee once or twice on the blog, but indeed I am getting married very soon. To celebrate the occasion, my family is joining us in Japan, starting today with my brother and his wife and my mother and her husband. My brother Phil and his wife Julia are staying at my place, and they brought along many fine gifts, including these Oregon beers:

Although he was exhausted, my brother and I enjoyed a couple of these already, and it's nice to have a taste of home. Phil was wearing a matching sweatshirt:

I also got this T-shirt, which I'll proudly wear to an upcoming social function (not my wedding, though maybe the after party?):

Overall, I'm very happy to be with family. It's great that nice beer can be involved as well. I'll stop here, as I've got a long week ahead, and I still haven't finished buying beer for the after party.

Post Irish day, an English IPA

I've been busy of late working on the launch of Mie Life Magazine, a free, online-only (for now) general interest magazine for this little prefecture I call home. Since the operation has nearly no money to spend, we're relying on volunteers. So far, a few people have been helping out a lot but we're looking to add several more people as we prepare to get going.

The magazine will be at the url mielifemagazine.com (for now it's just a parked domain). I'll update here on the blog when it's ready to roll. Naturally, besides generally editing the thing, I'll be writing about beer. I'm planning a monthly column on craft beer plus I'll try to spotlight the craft beer scene in Mie in larger features.

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Back to the beer.

This weekend featured Ise's annual St. Patrick's Day party, which happens every year in early March. It's part of a series of St. Patrick's Day events and parades around Japan. Ise's naturally, is pretty small, but it draws a decent crowd and this year that crowd included Ireland's ambassador to Japan, who made a speech and took part in the day's festivities.

I was along for the ride too, mostly taking photos but also chatting with people about beer and the magazine project and all kind of things. A few of us skipped the official after party and headed for the beer bar, where were had a couple of beers to add to the decently large total of parade beers (not many were drinking ... me, a crew of Irish guys, plus a few older guys).

Overall, the weekend left me feeling a bit ill. Too much Irish fun, perhaps.



But with Wednesday comes my first beer of the week, part of the recovery. And the bonus: These beers come from beyond my reach in Mie. They are omiyage from Yokohama, one being an English style IPA from Yokohama Brewery and the other being an Aooni English style IPA from Yaho Brewing (maker's of the more widely available Yona Yona Ale).

At the moment, I've cracked open the Aooni, which is a nice, subdued IPA. Much like when I tried the Tokyo Black at Keg Nagoya, I can trace the mainstay Yona Yona in the background, but the bitterness comes through nicely.

I'll save the Yokohama IPA for another time (read: in about 10 minutes).

Cheers to all ... and I hope your late winter / early spring transition treats you nicely.

Non-beer update: A few snow pictures

Ise rarely gets snow ... I can't recall any substantial snowfall last year. On Friday we got a bit that stuck around most of the day, and this afternoon came the sequel. It's blanketing the ground, and roads, with a slushy mess, though trains and buses appear to be running smoothly (edit: reports of train delays have been issued).

Here are a few cellphone shots. Just to prove it snowed in Ise.

The school parking lot. 

We lost our English club students one by one to early departures for home.

 From the bus. I called shotgun, apparently.

 Update: A few more pictures below: