Snow in western and eastern Japan abated Sunday, leaving five dead and 300 injured injured in traffic accidents and other mishaps in Tokyo and its surrounding areas, which usually get little snow, police and firefighters said.
Five people died in the morning in a series of snow-triggered traffic accidents in Chiba, Ibaraki and Kanagawa prefectures, while more than 300 pedestrians were injured in Tokyo and Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures while slipping on snow.
At 9 a.m., 8 cm of snow was recorded in Nagoya, more than 10 cm in the suburbs of Tokyo, and 1 cm in the central part of the capital, according to the Meteorological Agency.
The snow caused bullet trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line to run at reduced speeds between Tokyo and Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, and between Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, and Shin-Osaka in Osaka. This led to a maximum delay of some 20 minutes.
Other bullet train services were unaffected by the snow, railway officials said.
Air traffic was also disrupted. The snow forced three major Japanese airlines to cancel a total of 25 flights Sunday, airline officials said.
The Japan Highway Public Corp. said the snow temporarily blocked traffic on various routes, including between Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, and Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, on the Tomei Expressway.