Snow in Tsunan

If you've been following the TV and newspaper articles about teh recent heavy snow, then you might now be familiar with the name 'Tsunan'; the town that has had the heaviest snowfall. Tsunan High School is my visit school and I have to drive there every Tuesday and Wednesday. I was a little worried from all the reports that the school would be inaccessable, but as I found out yesterday and this morning, the roads are pretty much clear and driving wasnt too bad (but checkout the height of teh snow either side of the road!!)


There are things around here that help the people cope with the snow (see this article about living in with snow in Tsunan), but the main problem at the moment is that so much snow has fallen that it's taking much longer to clear. The only solution at the moment seems to be "get more people shovelling". At least one elementry school (in Toyama, Nagno) has had the students dig snow at their school. In the worst affected areas, the GSDF (Ground Self Defence Force, i.e. Japans Army) has been sent in to help clear the snow. Initially they worked at the weekend to help clear Route 117, the main road that runs from Kawaguchi, through Tokamachi and Tsunan, to Nagano. The road is now clear so now the troops are working on freeing the 500 people are cut off by the snow in Tsunan valley (the valley runs off behind the pylon and trees in this photo).

According to one of my teachers, 9 of these are pupils at Tsunan HS. I've had a couple of absences in my classes today so I wonder if it is because they are stranded. I hope they're safe.

It's not just GSDF troops that have been sent to the area. Yesterday my schools opening ceremony was filmed by TV crews and broadcasted on the news. At lunch the high street was crawling with camera crews interviewing residents.

I don't know if there are any reporters around today; the bread people made it so I could buy lunch without leaving school. But it's been snowing since 7am this morning so that might have put then off a little.