On campus

 Nights on campus were very pretty. In this picture you can see the lights on a ski area in the mountains on the other side of the river.

 Even the nears factory looks nice at night.

 The snow-covered mountain in the distance was visible in the last rays of light as the sun disappeared below the horizon. The campus is in the upper reaches of the flood plain of a river and is essentially surrounded by mountains that get bigger as the distance grows.

 The sunset was very pretty. I guess the snow causes the blues.

 A final party with the students from two groups, both of which I taught and my time here will be finished. This was the desert arrangement.

 This was some of the food that was provided. At the party the students get a certificate of completion and there are lots of short speeches, since after all this is Japan.

 When I got back to my apartment building, I found a truly strange icicle. I have never seen one with this sort of shape.

In the morning after I had cleaned up my apartment, I went to my office and did a final check to make sure that I had not forgotten anything.

On campus

 These are the steps at the top of the hill between my office and the classrooms. On some days they were covered with snow and the water sprays were working hard.

 Since it was a little warmer, icicles started to form on the overhanging snow banks.

 I was surprised at how much greenery there was under the snow. The snow must act as an insulator to keep the plants from freezing.

 A bird I saw in the parking lot.

 Some more pictures of the trees.

This is snow hanging from the administrative section of the main building.

On campus

 This is a typical meal in the cafeteria. The large plate contained a piece of chicken, corn, and fresh Chinese cabbage and cost 220 yen. The small dish with the egg and spinach was 70 yen and the dish of pineapple was 100 yen. The lunch and evening meals were similar but different. Also the flavoring was different every day. There was enough variety that I did not mind eating there every day.

 During one of the breaks, some of the students went out onto the second floor roof and had a snowball fight.

 This is some of the UNIQLO students and my favorite facilitator (right end), Hnin, who is from Myanmar and will graduate with a Master's Degree this year.

 Each Friday, the students left and we had a goodbye party for them. This was part of the food that was put out. It was very good and different each week, something that I appreciated since I went to four of these parties.

 There are no other buildings around for at least a kilometer and the university tries to turn off the lights that are not necessary, so the campus is quite dark at night.

 This is the sign that I found in the main entrance to my apartment building. It says that you should not use the normal exit but to go out into the side parking lots, which have roofs.

 This is the married faculty housing, almost buried in snow.

 It is a bit hard to see, but as I went to class in the morning, the snow was up half way to my knee.

In the summer this is a door, but in winter they block it off because the snow piles up and the door only leads to the grass outside.

On campus

 These icicles are hanging down over the main entrance to my apartment building.

 The road in front of the building is more like a small riverbed. It the colors were greens, browns, and blues, instead of white, gray and black, it would be a near perfect resemblance.

 When I went to be last night, the snow was up to the top of my head. Now, after less than twelve hours, I can not reach the top.

 The trees are completely covered, making them look like the Spring trees covered with cherry blossoms.

 The snow in the internal quadrangle is almost up to the top of the first floor.

 I had to go through this to get to my office which is in the center building in the background.

 The mountains were pretty, although they were a bit gray.

 The trees outside my classroom were pretty but the light was not good because of the density of the clouds.

At lunch time the cafeteria was quite busy. This is a very friendly place. If I sit down alone, it is not very long before someone comes over and asks to join me: students, staff, faculty, and once the university president.