After a cold and very wet day yesterday, things seems a bit calmer and drier this morning. What's more, we can see snow on the runs of the resorts around town... not down to town level but approaching. Check out the photo below that shows Yuzawa Kogen and Ishiuchi Maruyama this morning, taken from Shiozawa. A look at the webcam from Kagura also shows a nice white covering up there.

It is about 4 degrees here at the moment with a high of around 8 degrees forecast for later on in the day. We might even get some sun tomorrow and it will warm up a bit too into double digits.

Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of activity around town with people protecting the trees and bushes in their gardens... if they didn't the weight of the snow in winter would destroy lots of them. It's still early for snow in town of course and we usually get some snow in town that completely disappears as well before the proper snow sets in for the season.

All eyes on Kagura though as they hope to open next weekend. Real snow is good to see up there and the snow-making machines are busy too trying to guarantee an opening of at least the main run at Kagura on Saturday.

We'll let you know how things progress of course.