Heavy snowfall in Japan wreaks havoc on transport networks, more coastal snow expected

Japan's cold snap continued to see heavy amounts of snow dumped Monday across swathes of central and western Japan, particularly affecting coastal regions on the Sea of Japan, the weather agency said.

According to Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA) a cold air mass has been gripping Japan since late last week with heavy snowfall overnight wreaking havoc on the nation's roads, severely disrupting local and intercity Shinkansen train services, as well as halting flights from regional airports, involving some of Japan's major carriers.

In Fukushima Prefecture, home to a stricken nuclear reactor in Japan's northeast, 1.6 meters of snow was recorded on Monday and 1.4 meters in a town in Hiroshima Prefecture.

Local authorities said that in Nichinan, Tottori Prefecture, on the coast of the Sea of Japan, an elderly women died after a landslide triggered by the snow hit her house.

The death toll has risen since Sunday when authorities confirmed that in Tochigi Prefecture a man was killed in a weather-related traffic accident, and in Niigata Prefecture two people were killed after falling into an irrigation channel after a snow removal operation.

One man was also reportedly found dead underneath a snow plough in Niigata.

More than 100 passengers were stranded on a Sanyo Shinkansen bullet train bound for Shin-Osaka Station and had to stay on the train overnight at Okayama Station in western Japan, local media said, as railway equipment had failed due to the snow, causing a severe delay on the line.

Japan's two top carries, All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Co. canceled flights Monday due to the severe conditions and Shinkansen bullet train services saw operations slowed between Hamamatsu and Shin-Osaka stations on the Tokaido line. Many local commuters in central Japan were also affected by snow canceling services, local reports stated.

Six teenagers on Sunday had to be rescued from Mt. Kusembu, with its peak at 850 meters straddling Fukuoka and Saga prefectures. They became stranded due to the severe weather and had to be rescued by firefighters from near the mountain's peak.

The subtropical region of Okinawa, meanwhile, saw snowfall for the first time in almost 39 years on Sunday, marking only the second time Japan's southernmost prefecture has experienced snow since record-keeping began.

Amami Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, according to the weather agency, saw snowfall for the first time in 115 years.

The JMA said temperatures will likely remain lower than seasonal averages mainly in western Japan Monday as a cold air mass moved over the Kinki region centering on Osaka. Endit