will ferguson, "hitching rides with buddha"

"we came to joetsu beneath frost-ridden mountains. the air had chilled. it reminded me of that haunting opening line of kawabata's novel yukiguni: "the train came out of the long tunnel and into snow country." i had passed over, into the far north, into snow country. here, on the northwestern side of the japan alps, cold wet air rises suddenly, creating some of the highest snowfalls on earth. much of japan is hot, humid, and semi-tropical. but in the north, towns disappear beneath layers of snow two stories high. villagers burrow pathways from house to house, and the secondary roads stay closed."

and, about the shi:
"i think i caught niigata on a bad day. everything looked sullen and soiled and worn out. even the city's smokestacks, painted in stripes like candy canes, emerged from the industrial haze like sooty sweets dug out from under a sofa cushion."