Thrilled to have a chance to visit Aizu, which features large in Across a Bridge of Dreams. I’d wanted to come when I was in Japan last year but Aizu is in Fukushima Prefecture and not that far from the Fukushima Dai chi Reactor and – more to the point – the Aizu friends I was going to stay with advised me not to come, so I decided not to. But this year nothing was going to stop me! Having been freezing in Kyoto, I was just beginning to warm up in Tokyo. But the farther the train got towards Aizu, the deeper the snow. It’s Snow Country up here. We went to see Tsuruga jo – Crane Castle, Aizu’s beautiful white castle – in driving snow, and the house of Saigo Tanomo, one of the chief retainers of the Aizu lord. We also visited my friends’ grandfather. To reach the front door we had to climb through snow as high as the roof. I’d been told about it but never seen snow that deep before. Tourism here is right down. Even Japanese won’t come. The word Fukushima puts people off. But according to my friends radiation can’t cross the mountain ranges that divided Aizu from the power plant and it’s perfectly fine. It also has fabulous sake and great pottery!