White snow and black eggs

oh no it's snow

 There's that ski slope back there.

 The sun came out during the day and melted all the snow, but then it started falling again in the afternoon. It piled back up by the time I left work.

At work there was a souvenir on my desk. Black eggs from Owakudani.

Owakudani means the great boiling valley. It's also affectionately called Jigokudani, or hell valley. It's a volcanic crater formed by an eruption about 3000 years ago. The area is full of hot springs and sulfur geysers, giving the whole place a distinctive look and smell.

The famous black eggs are created by boiling in the natural spring water for about an hour. Sulfur reacts with minerals in the shells, turning them black.

It's said that eating a black egg adds 7 years to your lifespan. At sets of five eggs for ￥500, that's 35 years for about $5! But it's also said that eating more than two eggs will give you bad luck. The only thing worse than a long life is a long, unlucky life.

But...these aren't those eggs. Those eggs only have black shells, and these are peeled. They seem to have been turned black with soy sauce, brown sugar, and dye. But they're still from Owakudani. It's like making a knock-off of your own product.