If you haven’t heard, Hokkaido, Japan’s northern island, has been hit by the biggest snowfall since scientific records began there in 1949. The snow was so heavy that the weather measuring gear broke. They’re talking about mounds of up to 2 meters, which would come up to 72 inches (but instruments measure average fall, not the height of mounds).

Similarly, I’ve been buried by events on my end. I’m only just today fully coming up for air after spending the last several weeks working on a business plan and a venture capital pitch. This was for an innovation contest we ended back in after being ruled out at first; we were #6, and one of the top 5 bowed out, so we had a small grace period to hammer out the plan  and the pitch. The pitch was given yesterday and by all accounts went excellently. Whether that translates into prize money and in-kind help, we just won’t know for another week. Thankfully, it’s just one week.

I’ve been distracted with other things too, but sometimes life just buries you for a while. Now my “storm” is over for the short term and I might not have much to do on the corporate front until manufacturing is ready and the company needs online marketing. If that’s the case, I’ll just try harder to blog, contribute to the Internet (as long as governments keep their mitts off it) and comment more.

This blog wasn’t meant to be an encyclopedia. It also is my only blog now so I won’t shy away from non pure Japan comments, as long as it’s all kept clean, dignified and I feel that it contributes something. So, best wishes to Hokkaido residents, and I’ll be more visible here for a while. – J