A big part of my day is my morning and late afternoon commute. This year both of the schools I am posted at are within 30 minutes walking time from my apartment. My pledge has been to refuse to take public transport and walk each day, regardless of the weather. Until recently that hasn’t been a problem, but in the last week we have finally gotten some intense snowfall. On the day these particular images were taken well over 60 centimeters fell overnight.

Even though the Streetcar looks tempting, they are often packed like sardines and standing room only. I gladly let them pass knowing that I’d regret getting on as soon as I boarded.

Walking gives me some much needed calorie burn and saves me 400 yen in transportation costs. On severely inclement days I do my best to bundle up and zone out to my podcasts. Sometimes I even jog part of the way to get the blood flowing.