Heavy snow fell across eastern and northern Japan today; central Tokyo recorded its first snowfall of the season, and the capital region saw considerable disruption as railways reduced services. To everyone who struggled to get to work — thank you for your effort.
The Japan Meteorological Agency reported 24-hour snowfall through 11:00 a.m. of 6 centimeters in central Tokyo. Arriving at Palaceside Building in the morning and looking toward Hirakawa-mon, the whole Imperial Palace was a snow scene = upper part of photo above. We also tried a panorama along Uchibori-dōri = photo at end. But snow turned to rain by dawn; by midday
much of the accumulation had melted and Hirakawa-mon looked dark = lower part of photo above. Children must have been disappointed.
In this 12:38 photo, the figure in the red circle is someone running = photo right. A little surprise.
Elsewhere in Kantō, Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi saw 40 cm; Chichibu, Saitama 34 cm — mostly 20–40 cm along mountains in Kantō-Kōshin and southern Tōhoku. Yokohama had 5 cm; Chiba saw little accumulation.
The commute was the hard part. Suspended wires and fallen trees caused line suspensions; especially on commuter lines, operators cut frequency so trains would stop at stations rather than between them if trouble occurred — many lines ran at half capacity, causing severe crowding. The Keiō Main Line and the long Tokyo Metro Tozai Line, down to about 30% of normal, were especially tough: entry restrictions left long queues at ticket gates, some spilling outside; switch to buses and they crawled in traffic … SNS filled with cries of “waited two hours and gave up.”
The JMA says cold air near −3°C at about 1,500 m — the benchmark for snow — covered almost all of Kantō-Kōshin as a low moved along its edge, supplying moist air from the sea. A typical pattern for Kantō heavy snow.
