Once again the snow is coming on strong here in Ono. I recently discovered where the town disposes of its white waste. Snow removal teams work the city, milling the snow with combine harvester like machines, known to Americans as “snow blowers”.

These contraptions, which range in size from metal giants of the road, to pedestrian pushed snow mowers, cut up the compacted snow, which then spurts from the top of the machine into trucks, which then ferry it away to the snow dump, situated by the Kuzuryu river. It is here that load upon load is piled high to sit until spring, where the sun will eventually melt this artificial mountain.

Our parking area was recently cleared of snow. It took two days using mechanical diggers to free us from our white prison which had closed in around us, and it seems it was just in time – the forecast for the next few days is heavy snow.