Snow in Japan?

[blimp]

you need a driving license for any motor vehicle, even the smaller ones, 50 cc. now, if you got a car driving license valid in japan you are allowed to drive up 50 cc on that. above that you need a specific motorbike license.

[Sashimister]

Snow in Japan?

Never seen more snow anywhere else.

[GoNative]

A rare clear winters day in Hokkaido. I live near the base of the mountain on the right. Hokkaido really is one of the most beautiful places on the planet I reckon.

[Polar]

Northernmost part of Hokkaido is at roughly the same latitude as Montreal.

So yeah, snow

[GoNative]

More importantly though is that we're not too far away from the coldest region in the northern hemisphere in winter, Siberia. Cold air masses move out of Siberia and cross the relatively mild waters of the Sea of Japan. The air picks up large amounts of moisture as it moves across this body of water and then dumps some of the heaviest snowfalls on the planet along the western seaboard and mountains of Japan.

This does mean that it's pretty normal for me to get home from work and be confronted with the some difficulties getting in my front door like below.

[JustinRossTso]

Originally Posted by blimp

you need a driving license for any motor vehicle, even the smaller ones, 50 cc. now, if you got a car driving license valid in japan you are allowed to drive up 50 cc on that. above that you need a specific motorbike license.

Oh! Okay, thanks dude! I never knew!

And... to the pictures OMG that's amazing! Toronto and Scarborough is nothing compared to the snow here! I WANNA GO I WANNA GO NOW! HEHEHE!

(sigh) tensions are growing now... between China and Japan because of the fisherman thing recently... so my parents urge me not to go to Japan (because I'm Chinese ;/).

[steven]

Originally Posted by Sashimister

Never seen more snow anywhere else.

Hahaha... no way. Is that the うわさのYuki no Otani in Toyama? Have you been there before? We got a lot of snow this year so I think that wasn't opened until later than usual (and incidentally lasted longer than usual)... I could be completely wrong though.

JustinRossTso, when I came to Japan I brought an electric guitar and a bass. Something that I did which worked out well for me is I took the neck off my electric guitar (it was a strat so it's a bolt on neck). I wrapped it in shirts, sweat shirts, etc and it did totally fine. I had a soft case for my bass (Fender Jazz) and that worked out just fine, too. I had it as my carry on. When I flew within Japan they put my bass in a special area, which I was really surprised about.

[GoNative]

Originally Posted by steven

Hahaha... no way. Is that the うわさのYuki no Otani in Toyama? Have you been there before?

It's definitely that road. I haven't been myself yet but would love to next year. Some great backcountry skiing out from Murodo and I'd love to ascend Tateyama.

[steven]

I've climbed it before... it wasn't as hard as I had expected, but the last stretch kind of sneaks up on you. It's almost like you have to crawl up some of it. Climbing Tateyama is not something you can expect to do in the winter though... I think that's more of a summer thing around here. Those ice walls might've lasted until May or June this year to give you an idea of what I mean. I climbed it in late August and there was still a bit of snow left over.

There is in fact a lot of skiing in Toyama. I've heard it really varies from place to place, but there is supposedly some decent skiing (I know it's pretty cheap). You can find places with virtually nobody there. You're gonna hate me for this, but I've never been skiing/snowboarding here. I always seem to be a little busy during that time of the year (hopefully I can go this year). I did make some old school bamboo skiis last year though. I managed to go down a hill without falling over, which was an accomplishment to say the least.

If you make it all the way to Toyama during the winter, you might want to check out Gokayama (I think it's also called Shirakawa). They have old style houses there that they "light up" during the winter. There's a lot of cool stuff to check out here during the winter.

[chiuchimu]

Originally Posted by GoNative

Now this is a subject I know a little about
I too love snow, really really love it. After spending a winter in BC many years ago I decided then I wanted to live somewhere where it snows, preferably to sea level. It is one of the main reasons that I decided to come live in Hokkaido.

Hokkaido receives the heaviest snowfalls to low levels in the world. Sapporo, the captial of Hokkaido and at sea level, averages around 6.3m of snowfall each winter making it the snowiest city with more than a million in population. The town I live in, Kutchan at only 178m above sea level, receives around 12m of snowfall each winter making it one of the snowiest towns on the planet (I haven't been able to find one with a higher average snowfall).
All of Hokkaido has below freezing average temperatures throughout the winter and snow to sea level but the heaviest snows are concentrated on the western side of the island and in the central mountains of Daisetsuzan.

Snow settles to sea level along the western side of Honshu most of the way down to Toyama. Further south than that snow at sea level occurs reasonably frequently but generally doesn't settle for long periods. Even Hiroshima gets occasional snowfalls through the winter but it doesn't last long on the ground. Elevated areas of Kyushu receive snow but it rarely falls to sea level. The elevated areas of the Japan Alps receive huge snowfalls, some areas getting 20m+ each winter.

With mountains right along the western side of Honshu forming a barrier to most of the snow bearing systems the eastern side of the island receives much less snow. Occasional low pressure systems do move up the eastern side and can bring snowfalls down to sea level about as far south as Yokohama. Elevated area of Shikoku also can receive some snow from such systems. Snowfalls to sea level on the eastern side are more frequent the further north you go and from around the northern areas of Fukushima and upwards snow can settle to sea level for some weeks on end.

All in all Japan has some of the most impressive snowfalls in the world. Up here in Hokkaido we receive similar quality and amounts of powder snow that they receive at famous powder resorts in Utah but at levels less than 1000m rather than 3000m+. A truly awesome place if you love snow and snow sports.

Impressive thread. Nice to know Japan has great snow for skiers.

Nice pcitures. sashimister's too.