Miasa

We have arrived at our trial house in Miasa, Omachi yesterday in heavy snow. The snow built up really quickly and we put snow socks on the car for the first time just to get from the reception to our cabin. Today the snow eventually subsided and the sun came out and we explored the immediate area a little. Miasa feels both more remote and more wild comparing to Ikusaka. We have been told to be cautious of bears. Hana spotted a Kamoshika on the way here, an extraordinary animal named as a deer (‘shika’) but in fact (according to Wikipedia) a caprid or ‘goat antelope’, of which many species became extinct in the last ice age, so that it is considered a living fossil and also a living national treasure of the forest. Anyway a magical seeming animal. This will be our home for the next one month.