Northwestern Japan Hit By Continuing Heavy Snows

This winter has been harsh for the people on the Japan Sea side of Japan, particularly in Niigata and nearby areas. Some towns and villages have as much as 3 meters (~10 feet) of snow on the ground. Tens of people, primarily elderly, have lost their lives working to remove the snow from their homes or other buildings. Particularly in small villages, where most of the young people have left for the cities, men and women in their 70s or older are combatting snows that are deeper that anyone can remember. A stark view on NHK of a collapsed bridge brought it sharp focus of the huge weight involved in these heavy accumulations. And many towns and cities have already spent all of their budgets for snow removal.

During this fall and winter we have been looking at news web sites for Okayama and it seems that the reputation of some of the best weather in Japan doesn't mean they avoid winter weather. It has been quite cold in the area recently. And it is clear that generally the weather in Japan has been rather fierce in the last two years or so.