We were looking for a White Christmas.

So we Hearty Hikers drove up through Utogi to the Aozasa Mountain trailhead. By “White Christmas,” what we were thinking was 10 cm of snow.  Or so. To walk in. We like walking in the snow.

But there wasn’t any snow, not on the ground, anyway.  In the trees, though, was an odd sort of wind-blown, “toothbrush” snow—and a lot of ice, too.

It was gorgeous.

All is one.

We. Truth. Hope.

That’s what I felt walking along the Aozasa ridge today.

At Shizuoka University, I’m involved with an international club, YASHIO, that gives our Japanese students a chance to speak English, our students from all over the world a chance to speak Japanese, and everybody a chance to meet people from everywhere and share themselves and their cultures.

Everybody involved with YASHIO makes me incredibly happy. And when I see people from all over the world together, I feel just what I felt today.

We. Truth. Hope. All is one.

Wind-blown, “toothbrush” snow.

Mt. Fuji, this day, only showing a sliver of his belly.

Through the icy trail tunnels.

You may have never heard of NDuaDuo, but they like YASHIO a lot, too.

NDuaDuo is a po po f(aux)k music group.

You may not have ever heard of po po f(aux)k music, either. Let’s just say, though, for the moment, that it’s a non-commercial style of music.

And what we can tell you about NDuaduo is they only sing what’s in their hearts.

A few years ago, they wrote a song, “We,” to sing at an international Christmas party.

Recently they recorded a very po-po-f(aux)k version of it—and they’ve asked me to share it with you now. If it’s not your cup of tea, well, then it’s not, but they say that if you like it, if it suits the way you like to think about Christmas, then they’re happy for you to share it with whomever you like.

Wishing you all a very happy holiday season.

Hugs from all of us here at Persimmon Dreams.

WE

We’ve gathered here at Christmas time from all around the globe.

We look into each other’s eyes—we see no xenophobes.

Together we can feel so much hope.

Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Ho-o-ope.

In your eyes I see a light that really, really shines.

Makes me feel that all of us are something quite divine.

You’ve got me feeling mighty fine.

Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Fi-i-ine.

Sri Lanka and Germany might be represented here.

Malaysia and Shizuoka’s spirit is feeling awful near.

What can you possibly see that anyone would ever have to fear?

Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear. Fe-ea-ear.

Maybe we’ve got some Christians here, a couple of Muslims, too.

A Buddhist, a Hindi, might be sitting next to you.

You are they, and they are you, you know it’s oh so true.

True. True. True. True. Tru-u-ue.

People from Indonesia might be here by chance.

From China, Georgia, Vietnam, Ghana and France.

From Thailand and Slovokia, it makes me want to dance.

Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Da-an-ance.

Well, I’m really just so happy that you are sitting here with me.

So look into my eyes and tell me what you see.

I see you and you see me—and we are really we.

We. We. We. We. We-ee-ee.

We. We. We. We. We-ee-ee. We-ee-ee. We-ee-ee.

A beautiful day on Aozasa.

When it’s done, all there is to do is to express a whole lot of gratitude.

 

Mid-December.

The Aozasa trailhead. As always Red-Coat Jizo was there to welcome me to the neighborhood.

I could stand there and smile at him forever. His spirit imbues the whole mountain. A bit of snow on his cap this day.

There’d been a good bit of rain a couple of days before, and then the sun was supposed to be out, so I headed to Aozasa thinking that the views of Fuji, with a heavy snow cap, would be magnificent.

I wasn’t expecting at all what I saw: the trees atop Shimojumaisan, just across from the trail up to the Jizo Pass, all iced up and frosty.

There’d been a little snow . . . but very little. 

The blues were lovely, as I’d expected . . . except where Fuji-kun was situated. All about him were thick grey clouds.

So a day intended for Fuji-watching, turned into a day to be fascinated by the beauty of the ice on the limbs beneath a blue-blue sky.

Really, really beautiful.

I’d asked a number of different folks to come along, but everyone was busy, so I was all by my lonesome.

Though far from lonely. Solitude, Mr. Thoreau called it.

I know it was a good day for fanciful thought because twice after removing my glove to take a picture, I dropped it and left it behind and didn’t realize I didn’t have it until I’d gone along for ten or fifteen minutes. Each time. Just the chance for a little more exercise!

No, of course I’m not absent-minded, just a deep-diving daydreamer. Especially under blue like this.

When I reached the top of Aozasa, Fuji-kun was still hiding in the grey.

And then he wasn’t. How nice it was to see him!

Will be back to Aozasa soon. Will likely be some yuki ga arukiyasui snow by then.