Northern Japan snowed under after two-week whiteout – Tohoku Region
Residents of northern Japan were sheltering from deep snow up to the rooftops in some areas after a two-week whiteout. Several cities have seen record snowfall this month, causing traffic disruption and several fatalities. And more is expected, according to the national weather agency, which issued a series of warnings in recent days for heavy snow and strong winds, particularly along the Sea of Japan coast facing Russia and the Koreas.
“I have been here for 10 years, and I have never seen anything like this,” a resident of the remote Sukayu area of Aomori Prefecture told TV network TBS in comments broadcast. “If you look at the volume of snowfall per day, there wasn’t any single stand-out episode. But it accumulated little by little,” he said. Sukayu is buried under five meters of snow, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, reaching the roofs of two-storey buildings. “We may see a warning-level snowstorm, if snow clouds stay in the same location,” the agency’s Aomori unit said in a bulletin on Thursday.
Meanwhile, in the streets of Tsunan town in Niigata, more than 3.5 meters of snow has piled up. At one Niigata ski resort last week, holidaymakers delighted in and sometimes struggled with all the fresh powder on the slopes, while heavy-duty road maintenance vehicles and hotel owners were busy clearing snow from dawn until dusk. Hundreds of vehicles have been stranded for hours at various spots along snow-covered highways in recent days. Aomori has counted at least nine deaths linked to snow this winter, including six people who were shoveling it from rooftops. Niigata has seen at least 12 snow-related deaths.
Japan’s unregistered prepaid train cards return after nearly two-year absence – Nationwide
Whether you’re traveling in Japan or living in the country, one of the most useful things to have in your wallet is a Suica or Pasmo card. These prepaid cards originally started out as methods for paying for train and subway tickets. Simply tap the card at the turnstile when entering the station, then again when exiting at your destination station, and the necessary funds will automatically be deducted. When your card gets low, just insert it into a terminal and refill the funds using either cash or your credit card, and you’re back in action.
It wasn’t long until Suica/Pasmo compatibility was expanded beyond rail tickets, though, and now they can be used to quickly and conveniently make purchases at a huge number of restaurants and shops in Japan, plus to buy drinks and snacks from the nation’s ubiquitous vending machines. However, in June of 2023 Pasmo Co and JR East, who administer the Pasmo and Suica systems, were forced to stop issuing new cards due to a semiconductor shortage which prevented them from acquiring the necessary materials for the cards’ embedded IC chips.
Thankfully, though, JR East and Pasmo Co have finally sorted out their supply chain problems, and have jointly announced that they’ll be simultaneously resuming the issue of new unregistered Suica and Pasmo cards, which require no disclosure of personal information.
The return of unregistered cards marks the final step in the complete restoration of Suica/Pasmo availability. It wasn’t until the start of September 2024 that new registered cards, which require the user to register your name, phone number, date of birth, and gender when creating a card, became available again, and while some travelers had a had a workaround in the form of the inbound foreign tourist-oriented Welcome Suica, these could only be purchased at international airports and the most major train stations.
Welcome Suica cards are also only valid for 28 days, making them impractical for those on extended trips, and users are also technically required to carry a reference paper outlining the card’s terms and conditions. Unregistered Suica and Pasmo cards, on the other hand, can be purchased in just about every moderately sized station in east Japan with just a few quick taps on the ticket terminal. Unregistered Suica and Pasmo cards are set to become available on March 1.
