A crippling snowstorm buried many parts of the Hokkaido and Tohoku regions on Feb. 21, paralyzing the local transportation system and causing a multiple vehicle pile-up on a major expressway.

Researchers from Tohoku and Hokkaido universities and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology released the results of their five-year study of the Chishima Trench off Hokkaido.

The Hokkaido village of Shosanbetsu is home to ... and a hair stylist who knows everybody in Shosanbetsu. For three days as a blizzard buffeted the area, we spoke to the store's customers to ...