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Good morning everyone, it’s Monday, December 28th and it’s time for Amber’s morning English talk.

It’s currently 8 degrees Celsius with cloudy skies in Tokyo with a high of 13 degrees around noon!

Yesterday Hiro and I, along with our friend Sone-chan decided to take a short trip to Yuzawa and Minami‐Uonuma by car, simply to go see the snow. We didn't really have too many plans, we just wanted to go see some snow because it's the winter season and it very rarely snows in Tokyo.

Last week there were heavy snows reported in that area, along with the Minakami area in Gunma, so we knew the area had quite a lot of snowfall likely left over. We were not expecting over three feet, or basically over a meter of snow in some areas! It was amazing to say the least. There were still residents removing snow from their houses, businesses and streets.

In my hometown of Nebraska, we occasionally had snowfall similar to this at least once every year or two years so I know removing it is a lot of hard work, and can even be quite dangerous. Two years ago, I got a call from my dad that he had broken his arm while removing snow from his driveway, because he ended up slipping on some ice that had formed from melted snow.

So for listeners that are living in icy and snowy areas, or for those who plan to travel to icy and snowy areas, please be safe and make sure to keep up with weather reports and advisories because while snow and winter is quite beautiful, it can also be dangerous.

Tomorrow I’ll be talking a little bit more about our adventure in Yuzawa, Niigata but for now I’d like to end today’s morning talk with a question!

What is your favorite season?