Twenty something years ago from now, I left Tokyo, where I had lived for 12 years,
and moved to the place beside the forest in Hokkaido.
While I had been spending my life in a busy city, I often went to mountains and woods nearby
which took my fatigue away. So Hokkaido was my ideal place.
Shimokawa, the town I live in now, is located in a northern part of Hokkaido.
Every year its winter is rigorous, and the climate gets lower than -30℃ at its peak.
The snow sometimes lies about dozens of centimeters deep.
The end of autumn, when the piercing cold of winds start to blow, the withering forests in the mountains
drop their leaves which used to soak up lights from the declining sun.
This scenery makes me feel the coming of the solid white world.
The forests of winter, which is covered with snow and ice as if frozen flowers adorn,
is a beautiful gift from nature to people who come through the season.
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