A lot of snow in Japan

[Poiuyt]

more here:
http://www.biwook.net/gallery/temp/snow-in-japan/

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. That is one shitload of snow...

Where in Japan is it? I looked at the photos for a location until the enormous website came to a complete halt.

[Breeze54]

2. WoW!

Glad I'm not them! That almost looks like upper state NY last week!

[u4ic]

3. Gack!

:wow:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. Is this a recent snowfall?

That penguin pic looks familiar...

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. I found out from a Japanese friend it's in Nagano prefecture, winter of 2005/2006

Here is what she said when I showed it to her:

Some pictures with Defence Force's tracters had NAGANO plates, so most of the pictures may be from NAGANO prefecture, but some others may from Niigata, or other prefectures that are alongside the Japan Sea (well, Chinese and Koreans might call that same sea as the East Sea!).

2005 was the year that Niigata prefecture and nearby areas were hit by the big earthquack like the one hit Kobe in 1995. Nagano got some significant effects from this earthquake, too. Winter 2005 was right after the earthquake and winter 2006 was a big snow year that same area as well.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. Yes, if it's on the west coast in the central mountains of Japan

snowfalls like that are not unusual.

You can see trees with "crutches" set up under the branches so that they don't collapse under the weight of the heavy, thick snow, and cities in the area often have the sidewalks of their downtowns roofed over so that the sidewalks remain passable.



Note the "crutches" holding up these trees in Kenrokuen Park in Kanazawa.

I know someone who grew up as a missionary kid in Japan. There was a sort of summer vacation compound for missionaries on a lake in the mountains, and one weekend, his family decided to go up there for a winter getaway. They had to turn around and come back, because even though the roads were plowed (with walls of snow on either side), there was snow almost to the top of the doors of the cabins.