Tourists enjoyed the wintry scenery in Japan on Wednesday, as much of the country was covered in snow in a snap that has killed at least one person and disrupted travel.
“These temperatures are some of the coldest we’ve seen in a decade,” Japan Meteorological Agency official Takafumi Umeda told AFP.
Record lows were recorded in several locations, including one area in southern Kumamoto, where the mercury reached -9 degrees Celsius (16 degrees Fahrenheit), the coldest it has been since 1977 when the observation site began to be tracked.
Flight canceled due to snowstorm
The government’s top spokesman, Hirokazu Matsuno, said some people had died in the cold, while meteorologists warned of blizzards, high waves and snarled-up traffic due to icy roads.
Authorities are also investigating whether two other deaths were linked to the freezing weather across the archipelago, Matsuno told reporters.
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Hundreds of flights were canceled due to the blizzard, while delays and cancellations disrupted local trains and long-distance Shinkansen services. Vehicles on the main road in some locations were abandoned, local media said.
At the seventh-century Zenkoji Temple in the mountainous region of Nagano, north of Tokyo, a chill has descended on the trees, ancient lampposts and shrines covered in a layer of powdery snow.
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Visitors included some who were there to ski but had been forced off the slopes due to blizzard conditions.
“I came to ski, but the snow was too heavy, so I shortened my plans and decided to travel,” 30-year-old Akiko Sotobori told AFP.
The snowstorm (at the ski resort) was such that I couldn’t see anything three meters (10 feet) ahead.
Tokyo is saved
There is a picturesque scene in the former capital, a tourist favorite of Kyoto, where the shining walls of the famous Golden Pavilion contrast with the temporary bright-white brilliance of its tiered roof.
The country’s Sea of Japan coast was hardest hit by the overnight blizzard, with Tokyo and surrounding areas spared snow but seeing unseasonably low temperatures.
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