寒い冬の中で過ごしている皆さんには申し訳ないけど、今週の写真は数日前に撮ったアパートの近くの木です。見ての通りロスは天候が暖かくて、花も咲いています。子供時代の寒いメイン州の冬とは全然違います。
地域によって、どれだけ季節が違うのかが結構面白いと思います。メイン州とニューハンプシャー州に住んでいた学生時代には秋が一番好きな季節でした。紅葉も奇麗だったけど、自分が好きだったのはあのちょっと涼しい空気でした。あの空気を吸うだけで、どこまでも走り続ける元気が湧いてきました。（まあ、確かに若さも関係あっただろうし、いくら空気が気持ち良くてもサッカーの練習の最後にはいつもバテバテでした。）もしかして、秋が新学年の始まりだったのも関係があったかもしれませんがどっちみち、秋が大好きでした。
東京に移った時に季節に対しての気持ちが変わりました。これでやっと春の魅力が分かりました。一つ分かってほしい事があります。学生時代に住んでいた地域では春は雪が解ける時期でした。小さい時から寒いのが嫌いだったし、毎年毎年寒い冬を過ごすと更に寒さが嫌いになっていたので、気候が温かくなるのは大歓迎だったけど、問題はあんなに沢山な雪が一気に解ける事です。もうどこに行っても泥だらけになって、長い冬の間に雪の下に埋まっていた枯れた植物や動物のフンも全部一緒に解けてしまうので、とにかく汚くて臭い春の魅力が全然分かりませんでした。ただ、先に言ったように東京は違いました。
東京、そうして日本全国の春は素晴らしいです。全国の皆さんが桜の咲く時期を調べて、花見の予定をたてるほど大事にされています。毎年、東京にどれだけ多くの桜の木があるのかなと思いました。一週間しか咲かないのにあんなに多く植えてあります。子供時代のメイン州と違って、東京はその泥の臭いもないので、気候が温かくなるのを素直に歓迎しました。正直に言うと温かい天気が連れて来た女性達の春ファションにも文句がありませんでした。その代わりに東京の秋はあまり印象的ではありませんでした。夏に武術の大会が終わってしまうので、その緊張感がありませんでした。夏の蒸し暑さが終わるのも悪くなかったけど、やはり寒くなるのは嫌いでした。あと、春の花見とか夏の花火大会とか冬の忘年会や新年会みたいに面白いお祭り気分は秋に感じませんでした。やはり春が一番好きな季節になりました。
そうしてロスに引越しました。ロスの季節に対しては何を言えばいいでしょう。一年中通して昼はTシャツ、夜は薄いジャケットと、やはりロスには季節というものがありません。実は冬に少し雨が多くなる時期が珍しくて冬が好きになります。でもやはり子供の頃の冬と違います。あの寒いのがあんなに嫌いだったのに、今は凄く懐かしく感じます。クリスマスに実家に戻るともう三日間で十分体験するけど、寒さがない冬がちょっと寂しいです。やはり人間は苦労を共にする人と絆ができるので、寒い中を一緒に過ごすだけで周りの皆さんとちょっと仲良くなる気分です。それは悪い事ではないですね。
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My apologies for those of you who are still sitting under a blanket of snow, but I thought that this week I would share with you a picture of one of the trees outside my apartment. As you can see, here in LA the flowers are in bloom and the skies are bright blue. A far cry from the late-Januaries I remember experiencing while growing up in Maine...
It is interesting to me how different the seasons and people's attitudes towards them are given different geographic locations. I remember when I was growing up in Maine and going to school in New Hampshire, fall was my favorite season of the year. Yes, the foliage was pretty, but what I loved was the cool crisp air that would be so invigorating. Just breathing it in would make you feel like you could run forever without getting tired. (Okay, some of that might have been attributed to youth, but then again soccer pre-season was in the fall and I definitely remember that there was a limit to how much the cool air could do for you when coach was having us run laps.) Maybe it was also partly due to the fact that our school year would always start in the fall, and so the season marked the beginning of the new year. Whatever the reason, back then fall was definitely my favorite time of year.
When I moved to Tokyo, my attitude towards the seasons changed. Now I finally had an appreciation for spring. You have to understand that where I grew up, and also where I went to college, spring meant not only warmer weather. It also brought the spring thaw. Now don't get me wrong, I had and still have a deep hatred for cold weather. Contrary to popular belief, growing up in cold climates does not get you used to the cold. It just makes you hate it that much more every winter. The problem with spring in New England was that all of the snow that had built up over the long winter would melt, which would of course result in every non-paved surface turning into a giant mud pit. And let's just say that in my hometown of Buckfield pavement is not really dominating the landscape. In addition to the mud, all of the dead plants and leaves and all of the animal droppings that had been concealed beneath the snow would be revealed, bringing with them all of the wonderful odors that had been so carefully preserved in the natural outdoor freezer. So between sinking into and tracking mud everywhere and the smell of month old animal droppings and the additional fertilizer being spread on the local crops, the whole "spring has sprung" thing was lost on me. But as I was saying, things were much different in Tokyo.
Spring in Tokyo, and pretty much all of Japan, is a joy to behold. The timing of the cherry blossoms blooming is a matter of national concern and it seems everyone has hopes of doing some form of a cherry blossom viewing party. It always amazed me to realize how many of the trees in Tokyo were cherry trees. Even though they would only be in blossom for maybe one week out of the year, that short little burst of beauty would be reason enough to dominate the landscape year round. I personally found the return to warmer weather quite welcoming once I was not dealing with all of the additional baggage that comes with a winter thaw. And let's be honest, the fact that the young ladies of Tokyo were trading their winter wardrobes for something a bit more revealing was definitely nothing to complain about. By comparison, fall in Tokyo was not nearly as memorable. I would say that Japan is very big on the seasons and there are special occasions accompanying each of them, but for me fall no longer had any great appeal. My wushu competitions would be done, so there wasn't a great drive to train. The intense heat and humidity of summer subsiding were welcome, but then I never really looked forward to the cold of winter. And there weren't any great festivals that compared to the cherry blossoms in the spring, the fireworks in summer, or the start of the new year in winter. Yes, fall now paled in comparison to spring, and I found myself with a new favorite time of year.
Then, I moved to LA. What can you say about the seasons in LA? The fact that you can walk around in a T-shirt at noontime and will need a light jacket in the evening ALL YEAR LONG kind of says something about the seasons in LA. As in there are none. It is ridiculous to the point that I actually look forward to those few weeks in the late winter/early spring where it actually rains a bit. The flooding that comes with the rain isn't so pleasant, and I wish this city had a better drainage system, but given the amount of rain out here, it really doesn't make sense to plan for bad weather. The really sad thing is that living in LA actually makes me miss winter. That time of the year that I hated so passionately and the cold weather that I dreaded so much now feel like a childhood friend that I lost touch with and think about from time to time. Granted, going home for Christmas usually provides my fill of winter in about three days, but there is something about winter in New England that you don't get out here. It's that feeling of bonding you get through shared hardship. On those extra frigid days, you can't help feeling empathy for every person coming in from the cold, and maybe it's not much but it is a little something that brings us all a little closer together.
