Japanese Transport Distrupted By Heavy Snowfall

Japanese transport disrupted by heavy snowfall. Tokyo saw heavy
snowfall for several hours on Monday Heavy snowfall in eastern Japan
has brought disruption to road, rail and air transport and caused
injuries to nearly 900 people. In the Tokyo region, 8cm (3in) of snow
fell in nine hours on Monday. An elderly man in Nagano prefecture died
after falling into a drain while clearing snow in front ofhis house.
Around 460 domestic flights were cancelled on Monday. Some 3,400
travellers had to spend the night in Narita airport, said officials.
Staff there handed out food and blankets to the stranded passengers.
Dozens of domestic flights were also cancelled onTuesday because of
the on going disruption, but international services have not been
severely affected. Stranded passengers were given blankets at Narita
Airport Many roads around Tokyo were closed while the snow was cleared
and the authorities have urged commuters to exercise caution while
travelling into work. Train services, including the usually highly
punctual bullet train, have have experienced delays, but services were
expected to resume onTuesday. National broadcaster NHK said most of
the 891 people injured in the Tokyo area were elderly residents who
had slipped on ice. There werealso reports of several road
accidents.But as Monday was a national holiday in Japan, school
children were free to enjoy the snow. "It's my first time seeing this
much snow inTokyo. I'm having a lot of fun," 10-year-old Ai Sano told
Reuters.