A rare heavy blanket of snow in Tokyo on Tuesday left thousands of travellers stranded and scores injured, as frozen conditions snarled public transport in the Japanese capital.
The country's weather agency recorded as much as 23 centimetres of snow in some parts of Tokyo, the biggest fall since February 2014.
The weather paralysed Monday evening's commute as millions of workers battled to get home in one of the world's most populous cities.
Notoriously hard-working Japanese employees were urged to knock off early but this did not prevent delays and crushes at major stations.
Public broadcaster NHK said at least 180 people had sustained minor injuries on the frozen streets and there had been about 700 traffic accidents, police said.
Cars became trapped in a tunnel, sparking a 10-kilometre tailback from Monday evening through early Tuesday morning, broadcasters said.
Read more: Snow falls in November in Tokyo for first time in 54 years
And for the second day running, dozens of domestic and international flights departing from and arriving at the Japanese capital were scrapped due to the snow, with more than 9,000 people stranded overnight at Narita airport, officials said.
Airport officials and airline staff handed out water, snacks and sleeping bags to the unlucky passengers.
"I had planned to visit the US after graduating from university but my flight was cancelled. Why today?" a female student told NHK.
Heavy snowfalls are common in northern areas of Japan but rare in the capital, which last saw this amount of snow in 2014.
The sun was shining brightly on Tuesday morning, but forecasters predict the mercury will stay well below zero this week causing treacherous roads. They warned of more injuries.
The greater Tokyo area will see lows of minus six degrees Celsius on Wednesday, the weather agency said.
"It's rare to have sub-zero temperatures for a few days in the Tokyo area, and that would freeze the snow," agency official Kenji Okada said.
"In the past, we have seen a lot of injuries caused by slipping and falling. Simply walking can be dangerous."
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Scoreline
Liverpool 4
Oxlade-Chamberlain 9', Firmino 59', Mane 61', Salah 68'
Manchester City 3
Sane 40', Bernardo Silva 84', Gundogan 90' 1
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
