Significant snowfall has covered large areas of Japan, with this winter’s lowest temperatures causing disruptions to rail and air travel. Authorities have issued warnings of more heavy snowfall expected throughout the weekend. Residents faced challenges as they attempted to dig out vehicles buried under snow in just a few hours, with the meteorological agency labeling the cold front as the “strongest in several years.”
Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island, along with the Japan Sea coast, has been particularly affected, leading to the cancellation of domestic flights between regional cities and Tokyo. Train services in parts of central Japan were also suspended, as reported by the Kyodo news agency. The heavy snow has closed several roads, prompting officials to advise motorists to equip their vehicles with snow tires.
In Gifu prefecture, the town of Shirakawa recorded an astonishing 129 cm of snowfall within 48 hours, marking a new record, while Joetsu in Niigata prefecture and Honbetsu in Hokkaido experienced nearly a meter of snow. The weather agency indicated that extremely unstable atmospheric conditions would continue to produce significant snowfall in the coming days, including in areas along the Pacific coast, where such snowfall is uncommon. Officials have urged residents in regions expecting heavy snow to refrain from non-essential travel.
Ironically, unusually warm weather throughout January had raised concerns among organizers of this year’s snow festival in Sapporo, where approximately 200 ice and snow sculptures were unveiled this week. When local artists began crafting the sculptures last month, the snow barely covered the roads in Sapporo, Hokkaido’s largest city, necessitating the import of enough snow to fill 2,500 10-tonne trucks from neighboring towns.
Among the most striking creations are a sculpture of Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani with his dog Dekopin, and a 12-meter-high replica of the former Hokkaido prefectural government building. Approximately 80% of the sculptures were crafted by local citizen artists.
