I saw snow for the first time when I was 29, in a small town in Inawashiro, Fukushima 1. At that time, I had just moved to Tokyo three months earlier, and I was assigned to a site visit in Fukushima around mid-December. I was still new to Japan and completely ignorant about how latitude affects the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere, a little underprepared for snowy weather at the time. That moment was so memorable in my head that I decided to see Inawashiro town again. Seeing Mount Bandai felt strangely familiar - felt like coming home.
