[trunker]

i went around mid november last year, and just about everything was covered in snow.

i flew out from haneda, and landed in asahikawa which has a nice zoo. wasnt my idea, but the people i was travelling with really really wanted to see the zoo for some reason.

there was about a couple inches of snow on the ground there.

from asahikawa, we headed into sapporo by train. took a couple hours, but it was a nice ride through the countryside.

we spent the night in sapporo and then headed to otaru the next day. again, another few hours, but it was worth it for the relatively cheap seafood and the onsen up there. they have one with an outdoor pool and if youre lucky you'll get there when its snowing.

we did all that in one weekend, since my friends had work in tokyo, and it wasnt too bad, apart from the getting up real early saturday to catch the plane to asahikawa.

weatherwise, it wasnt as bad as knuckles's storm when i went, but it was pretty cold. i would have been happier with a parka than my regular winter coat which kept me warm in tokyo, but since i was only there a couple days it wasnt that bad.