Snowfall in Tokyo is rare, although in the past few years, when it does snow it creates a white blanket lasting weel for a couple of days to clear. The white blanket of snow in the metropolis makes for pretty pictures, but grinds the traffic to a halt even with 5 cm of pileup. Unique ‘snow make-up’ (loosely translated from the Japanese word “yuki-keshou”) of the popular tourist destination Asakusa, shows a rare snow pileup mode in this otherwise bustling place in Tokyo.

2014, January 13, Tokyo experienced beautiful snow covers and we took a photoshoot on the evening and then we went again to the location 3 days later when the snow had melted away. We hope to get a snow covered Tokyo again this winter…… Beautiful contrast of the snow blanket and the beautiful sunny sky after the snow melted away at the GoJyuu-No-Tou, the pagoda at Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.The entrance gate before the main hall Hondo with the blanket of snow in front of it. Barricades were put around many places since the snow collected on the top of the gate used to occasionally slip down with a thud.

The Hondo or the main hall of the Sensoji was also barricaded and the doors were also closed… The gods were also probably freezing and may have taken half a day off.

The Asahi Building with the foam like decoration on the top and the Asakusa traffic Square with no vehicles at 17:30 in the evening. This is an impossible case on a regular day, the traffic is heavy at this time of the usual day. It was still snowing strongly as can be seen in the snap above.

The shopping street leading to the Sensoji was already dead with all the shops closed down early due to the snowfall. The neighbourhood was so silent that one could literally hear his own breath. It was extremely cold, but very serene, with no crowds around.