Snow
There has been some heavy snow in Nagoya and central Japan:
At 8 a.m. on Monday, some 23 centimeters of snow had built up in Nagoya, the highest level since 1947, according to the Nagoya Local Meteorological Observatory. It is also the first time in 60 years that such heavy snow has been recorded in the central Japan city in December.
Some sections of the Tomei, Meishin, Chuo and Nagoya expressways in areas affected by the snow have been closed since Sunday night.
Bullet trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line have been forced to travel at reduced speeds in some sections, delaying trains by up to 83 minutes.
I go to the nearest station of the subway by bicycle every morning. But yesterday morning I walked to the station because the road was covered with snow. Some transportation seem to have stopped, but Kintetsu was running without delay. The view from the Kintetsu train was a snowscape, but when I got to the university, there wasn’t any snow to be seen. I thought it was really rare that it snowed like this in Nagoya before Christmas.
In childhood I enjoyed having a snowball fight with my friends on a snowy school day. But yesterday morning I thought that I would have to walk to the station and I felt unpleasant because I might be late for school if transportation was delayed by the snow. I must have grown up to feel so. And I missed a snowball fight with my friends.
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Comments (4)
Takuya
wrote on December 20, 2005:
Yes. But yesterday I got up earlier than usual. So I could go to school on time.
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Rudolf
wrote on December 20, 2005:
I wasn’t aware of the snow in Nagoya on Monday.
I spent the weekend further south: on Saturday I went to on overnight bonenkai party near Toba. On Sunday morning there was the snow, and as a consequence of that snow there were no buses, no taxis, no trains; so we had to stay a bit longer at the hotel. Here’s a photo. Here’s another.
I found the disruption slightly amusing. The snow was just a very light powdery sugar coating: it wouldn’t have caused any problems where I’m from because there are much heavier snowfalls every winter. The snow was rather unusual around here, though, and people did their best to cope. It seems they did cope rather well.
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Yuki
wrote on December 21, 2005:
I went Nagoya Dome to see Mr.Children’s concert. I was so surprised at the heavy snow!
I think snowy days have got fewer in recent years. Global warming causes the problem. I don’t like cold days but I love to touch and make snowballs. Sometimes I miss snow.
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Rudolf
wrote on January 09, 2006:
Covering the recent snowfall in Japan, the BBC has just posted a small series of photos.
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