Clearing roofs in Japan's snow country

We are in for a 20/21 NY snowmageddon right along the Japan Sea coast from Hokkaido to the bottom of Honshu. People are making sure their roofs are clear and that's always a big job. This is a video taken recently in Tokamachi in neighbouring Niigata.

[@andrewbeeching1240]

SKÁLD! (The music - their song "Rún"). Love it! And such a relaxing thing to watch - thanks!

[@RONJAE212003]

This amount of snow is crazy. Wow. Beautiful though.

[@kathrynhelm4176]

It always amazes me on how much snow some areas of Japan gets...wow! Well, can see the roof but now you can’t see the door 😝🤣😂. Beautiful music...do you know what it was?❤️🥰

[@naganonippon]

Apologies, it was a stock music track. An app might help you discover the name.

[@catscattying]

What I’m interested in is how they already had a ladder attached to the roof! Is it something houses in Japan commonly have? What do they use to secure the ladder to the house/roof?

[@naganonippon]

VERY common in the snow country. And the get off point is normally 1 metre or so above roof level. Usually held in place by welding or brackets.

[@catscattying]

@ thank you 😊

[@maibeppu9]

Poor guy at 3.16 too busy taking images and loses snow shovel. After all this effort they found they were at wrong house.!!

[@powderskier5547]

This is standard in Japan

[@johnwang9914]

Then there's the laying down a cable over the peak to the ground and having people just pull the cable under the snow to have it all slide off. The snow would be far more dense and heavy than what you would normally be shoveling off your driveway and of course it isn't surprising that there would be snow in Japan, just look how far north it is, it's only kept moderate by the ocean currents on the ocean side, obviously there's the other side which lacks the heat of the ocean currents but still has all the humidity.

[@naganonippon]

Have you experienced the Japanese snow country John? The amount that can fall is extraordinary and clearing by hand like this tends to be the best solution. Trying to bring down the snow by cable, if it were even possible, is likely to cause injury - even death. It's really that dangerous.

[@johnwang9914]

@@naganonippon Sigh, I agree that the cable method is more common in say Alaska than in Japan while hand removal is more common in Japan, but that's more likely the complexity of the roofline and closer proximity of the buildings, as to safety, the cable method is about putting distance between the people and where the snow would fall as well as having no one on the roof at the time. Granted, the cable method may not be an option but the whole thing about the cable method is safety by having people away from the snow and off the roof. Besides, I was only saying there were other methods of removing snow from the roofs that are also impressive.

[@yobrady]

Incredible, it makes an ‘not so fun’ chore absolutely exciting.
Please, where can I buy this Japanese snow sleigh shovel? I need this please.
I need this design, we don’t have anything like this in the US.
Please help me, arigato gozaimazu
Shaun

[@naganonippon]

It's known as a 'snow dump' Shaun. If you look on Rakuten (ex: pt.afl.rakuten.co.jp/c/0646c1f4.57d3918c/?url=item.rakuten.co.jp/unidy/285489/?variantId=285489&scid=af_pc_etc&sc2id=af_101_0_0) you might be able to find a company who may ship them internationally. Good luck!

[@HI-cl3jj]

SNOW

[@naganonippon]

O YUKI

[@BeatriceFord-tr2kt]

Thanks