Heavy snow in Japan

Tokyo and many parts of Japan experienced this year's heaviest snowfall yet last weekend. About 27 centimeters (11 inches) of snow fell on Tokyo, noted as the most in 45 years! Northeast of Tokyo, in Tsukuba City, where we reside, we had about 25 cm of snow!

Snow is very beautiful to behold, yes. When you wake up to grounds covered with white snowy icing, rice fields converted to vast white snow fields, trees laced with snow, one cannot help but marvel at one of nature's beautiful phenomenon!

Snow is beautiful as well for those who are warmly and comfortably inside their homes. Adults become children all over again as they join the children construct their version of the Snowman (I would have wanted to write snow person to be more gender-sensitive but this may not be familiar to most readers). Others constructed igloos and the more playful made their rounds of snowballs to throw at each other!

Snow, however, can have its other not often known side, especially by those from countries that do not have snow at all. Snow can be very slippery and risky, even deadly for those who venture farther away from their cozy homes to report for work, to buy groceries or to do some other tasks.

Last weekend's heavy snowfall saw 7 dead and more than 1,000 injured in Japan. Transportation was halted, with about 300 domestic flights cancelled last Sunday and about 700 flights suspended. There was widespread black-out as well.

We were ourselves stranded inside a train we took on our way back from Tokyo to Tsukuba City. What would have ordinarily taken about an hour and a half ride stretched to close to 3 hours as our train was caught in the midst of the strong winds and heavy snow fall. Gratefully, information dissemination is very systematic in Japan and the whole time we were inside the train, the train staff announced regularly that they were doing the best they could to move on as they apologized for the delay. With iphones equipped with fast connection to FB and other networks, my video of our being stranded was transmitted to other Tsukuba residents in our News for Tsukuba Residents network and throughout our FB network. Prayers and concern from family and friends kept us safe and secure while we waited for our train to resume operations.

And praise the Lord for bringing us back home safely! We learned later that our train may have been the last to be able to hurdle the heavy snow. All subsequent train schedules were cancelled and many stranded in Tokyo, spending the night in cafes, as hotels had also been fully booked with so many stranded elsewhere.

The next day, Sunday, the snow stopped falling but the heavy pile of snow posed so much challenge for those who had to clear their parking areas to be able to go out for work and other tasks. Neighbors started to come out and help shovel and remove the snow in their area. In our Catholic Church, some parishioners who were able to successfully reach the church by car or by walking helped to clear the parking area to allow others to park and join the mass for that morning. Only about 20 of the normal 200 or more churchgoers were able to come for mass last Sunday.

Walking on and through snow can be a very difficult hurdle for those from tropical countries. Thick snow is heavy to walk through, not to mention the possibility of slipping due to some melted or melting snow! One Filipino friend braved the heavy snow and walked about an hour to get to her place of work as her car was blocked by so much snow outside her place. Just as she was nearing her place of work, she received a phone message from her company that work had been suspended due to the snow!

My own experience of walking on and through snow this time has been one physically challenging drama but the experience has also been a beautiful spiritual walk of faith with and for God! So much mixed emotions about snow but a step at a time gets one beyond the hurdles that snow poses.

On a more personal note, years back, Orly proposed to me while the snow was falling outside and so in my heart, I still cherish a romantic view of snow! So rather than be downcast, and despite another forecast of heavy snow to fall again this Friday, we are moving on singing Burt Bacharach's song, changing rain to snow as follows… " snow drops keep falling on my head, they keep falling… So I just did me some talkin' to the sun… But there's one thing I know , the blues they send to meet me won't defeat me, it won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me,… Snow drops keep falling on my head, but that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red, crying's not for me, 'cause I'm never gonna stop the snow by complainin', because I'm free, nothing's worrying me.."

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