Heavy snows continued Sunday to blanket a broad area along the Sea of Japan coast stretching from southwestern to northern Japan, and two people died in snow-related accidents while the snow shut down some expressways and other transport systems.
A 42-year-old snow boarder died after being buried in an avalanche at a ski resort in the town of Shirotori, Gifu Prefecture, and a 10-year-old boy fell to his death in the city of Kagoshima when he stepped off the roof of a 21-meter building during a snowball fight.
The snow boarder, Akinobu Naito, from Toyohashi, died after being taken to a hospital, but his friend Toshimasa Kaneda, 36, rescued himself from the avalanche, the police said.