もし冬はピアノとバイオリン、やっぱり夏はアコーディオンだ*

Late last year, due to my compulsive need to save money (didn't want to take Shinkansen) and my inability to wake up on time (I missed my Limited Express train), I had the opportunity to take the Chuo Line Limited Express train from Nagoya to Nagano. It was a bit of a detour for me, since I would have had one direct train to take me from Kyoto to Nagano.

At any rate, the nice thing about taking the Chuo Line train was that it kinda goes through the mountain ranges in the middle of Honshu. Up till that time, I hadn't actually seen any snow in Japan, so it was quite an experience going through the mountains and seeing snow all over the place.

I also happened to be listening to Nao Matsushita on my iPod while on that particular trip, and the music really seemed to fit, mesh even, with the scenery that was rushing past outside my window. If you are able to imagine traveling at about a hundred klicks an hour through snowy mountains and pine forests, you'll be able to understand what I'm talking about.

This was the only video I could find of this particular song. Sorry, no MV. Just imagine the mountains. And the pines. And the snow.

Now it so happened that today, while traveling out to the Totoro HC in Ibaraki, we were in a car belonging to a guy called Serizawa. He recently started joining Kodaira-san to do ministry in Ibaraki, since he himself lives in Ibaraki with his wife. The cool thing about this dude is that he plays the accordion.

So while zipping by in the countryside of Ibaraki, we were listening to accordion music in the car. And just as the music of Ms. Matsushita seemed perfect to listen to in the cold, clear air of winter, so accordion music seems to have been made specifically for listening to on hot, sunny, summers, especially if the skies are blue, with white clouds floating in idyllic shapes over bright green fields.

It was almost Studio Ghibli-esque.

Just imagine green fields, with white clouds in a blue sky overhead.

[UPDATE!!] I was able to transfer the photos I took with my mobile phone to my computer, so now you can see what Ibaraki prefecture looks like in summer!

As you can see, it really is summer

Oh and just a random thought that occurred to me. When I was in the house at Ibaraki, I saw a spider on the window. And if you think about it, some crabs look kinda like spiders in shape. So, if you were to think of crabs merely as oversized spiders, would that make crabs look less appealing, or make spiders seem more appetizing?

*If the piano and violin are meant for winter, then the accordion is definitely meant for summer