Today we had the chance to learn about wildlife in the winter forest of Takinoue. Mr. Kataoka invited us for a snowshoe hike with a nature guide. She showed us how to read ashiato (animal tracks) in the snow, how to determine when animals ate at a certain spot and how to distinguish two remarkably similar treas even in wintertime. We even tasted the favorite food of the flying squirl. As gaijin we had the chance as well of course to learn about Japanese people when out in the wild. I had a good time and will never forget the face of a walnut-bud and the backward-looking tracks of a running リス。