what do you see?

So just to let you all know properly, we're moving to Hokkaido (the northern island of Japan) very soon. Our last day at Nova is this Friday (16th). We move out of our apartment on Tuesday 20th and we fly to Hokkaido on Sunday 25th. In between we'll be going on a little trip to Kyoto and Nara (old cities in the West of Japan). So we'll be out of touch for a while although I'll try to do some blogging if there's a convenient internet cafe or something. Call us on our mobiles if you need us!

The area we're moving to is very rural, with some beautiful countryside. See this link for a few pics. There's not a lot of info out there about our new city, but I managed to find this:

Kitami City
Kitami is famous as an old mint producing city. Early in the Showa era, more than 70% of the world's mint was produced here. Remains from these days are seen in the city. One is a memorial honoring minister Piason, the first minister in Hokkaido. You can learn about long-ago relations between Hokkaido and the U.S. There are many shops for herbs and aromatherapy. Today's Kitami is represented by solar energy. The city gets more sunshine than anywhere else in Japan. Many research projects and international conferences have taken place here, making this city a leader in this field. The famous solar-car race will be coming again soon. When it happens, be there to glimpse the future. In October, Kitami holds a chrysanthemum festival, one of biggest and oldest of such festivals in Hokkaido. If you love flowers or gardening, it's well worth a look. One of the highlights is 1,000 chrysanthemum spread like a carpet. To understand Japanese thinking, you must come into contact with the chrysanthemum.