I am, possibly, back

I stopped updating for quite a while because in my second year, I felt less at the mercy of my total incomprehension of everything Japanese, and thus less compelled to write exploratory essays about life here. But now that I'm in the midst of the dead of another gray, damp, and uninsulated winter, I'm feeling a bit draggy and thinking that keeping a blog again might be helpful. I might go with shorter, more slice-of-life entries than before, though. We'll see! For now, here's the view from my desk at school:

And an example of the relentless cuteness of Japan. Here's a photo of a dessert I got at an Italian restaurant a few weeks back. We may all suffer constant discomfort until the spring, but at least there are sugar snowmen.