Memories of Niigata / 新潟の思い出

The pictures are not from today, but from last week when it snowed for one day. When it snows, it reminds me of Niigata.

When I was a student, I lived in Niigata. It was not a very snowy area in Niigata city, but still the snowfall was a shock to me who was born and raised in the Tokai region of Japan. When I saw snow on the road, I couldn't help but want to walk on it, and I used to slip and fall on the slippery frozen snow. I miss it...

At that time, local trains in Niigata did not run according to the timetable at all. Not only because of the snow, but also because even the breeze would cause the trains to stop running immediately. I remember that it was rather rare for a train to come on time. How about now?

In Niigata, the sky was always low and dreary, and the weather was usually "cloudy", for me. But it was kind of interesting that all my friends in Niigata said it was "sunny" as long as it wasn't raining or snowing. Summer is hot and humid, autumn is short and forced to end by typhoons and snow, winter is snowy and snow doesn't melt until March, and spring is over in an instant. Thus, the climate was not flattering to live, but for some reason I have nothing but good memories of the area.

Sometimes I wish I could be a university student again in Niigata....




○●━━━━━━━━━━━・・・‥‥




写真は今日ではなく、先週一日だけ雪が降った日のものです。雪が降ると新潟を思い出します。

学生時代、私は新潟に住んでいました。市内で、さほど雪の多い地域ではなかったはずですが、それでも東海地方で生まれ育った私にとって積雪は衝撃的でした。道路に雪が積もっているのを見るとどうしてもその上を歩いてみたくて仕方なくて、つるつるに凍りついた雪の上で滑って転んだりしていました。懐かしい・・・w

当時新潟の電車の時刻表は全然アテにならなくて、雪はもちろん、ちょっと風が吹いただけでもすぐ止まっていました。時刻表通りに電車が来ることの方が、むしろ少なかった覚えがあります。今はどうなんだろう。

いつもどんよりと空が低く、天気は大抵「曇り」でした。でも、新潟の友達は皆、雨や雪さえ降っていなければ「晴れ」と言っていたのがちょっと面白かったです。夏は蒸し暑く、秋は短く台風や雪で強制終了となり、冬は雪が積もり3月まで解けず、春は一瞬で終わる。気候的にはそんな感じでお世辞にも過ごしやすいとは言えない地域でしたが、なぜか良い思い出しかありません。

もう一度あの土地で、大学生やり直したいな・・・と、時々思ったりします（真面目に勉強しなかったことへの後悔も含まれますが）。

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