Winter
The winter set in and the Annupuri side of the mountain received its normal quota of 15 metres (45 ft) of snow, the Konbu side doesn’t get so much snow but still enough to make visiting the site a snow shoe or skidoo expedition. Winter when not working was spent researching crops and planning (dreaming and scheming) the new years activities. March saw some unseasonably warm weather with beautiful clear days. Snow shoeing around the site we could get a better idea of the terrain. Fields that were inaccessible in the green season were suddenly revealed.
A windy conversation with a wild eyed Tokyo based banker about the coming financial meltdown ended with him screaming the depression era cry “we’ll all be selling apples on the street next year”. Getting back to Sapporo I made sure to order a bunch of apple, cherries, pear and plum trees to supply to ex merchant banker money men turned apple sellers.