In Japanese the word “josetsu” (除雪) means “snow removal”. In Niseko there’s a lot of time and effort put into snow clearing and the locals have a wealth of tools and machines to keep the area moving.
This is what I saw within a 1km radius and a half hour walk in Kutchan on 27 December 2011 during yet another snow storm.
Moving snow by hand
Open man hole, 27 December 2011
Senior citizen dealing with snow disposal, 27 December 2011
Mad skills with two snow shovels, 27 December 2011
Modified mama-san dump, 27 December 2011
Clearing the garage and a 360 digger, 27 December 2011
Hand operated snow blower, 27 December 2011
Roof clearing from a cherry-picker, 27 December 2011
Roof clearing team, 27 December 2011
Directing the traffic, 27 December 2011
Heavy machinery to move the snow
Trucks lined up ready to take the payload, 27 December 2011
A small digger piling it up, 27 December 2011
Specialist path snow blower, 27 December 2011
Moving one tonne a second? 27 December 2011
A big bucket and truck moving it, 27 December 2011
Mashing it up on Route 5, 27 December 2011
Huge snow blower, 27 December 2011
Fully loaded truck, but where does it all go? 27 December 2011
Clearing the path, 27 December 2011
Big green snow plough, 27 December 2011
Big bulldozer ready to rock, 27 December 2011
A bulldozer lost in snow, 27 December 2011