Snowfall in Tokyo is rare and it usually does not happen more than once a year. The city grinds to a halt even with a few centimeters of accumulated snow. The rare event makes for a unique view of the city’s popular tourist spots and the popular shopping district of Ginza is relatively deserted and we captured a few moments in February 2014.The most visited landmark in Ginza, the Wako building with the famous Hattori Clock Tower, with a snow blanket in front of it is one of the rare occasions which we will not miss to take a click of, even though it was a coooold day out there.
The Ricoh Photo Gallery building and the Ginza Clock Tower Building. We did stop by at the second floor cafe of the Ricoh building to watch the snowfall and enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee. The snow due to the wind was blowing around and had accumulated on the stairs also leading to the Subway Ginza Station.
With Valentine’s Day just two days away the busy cupid standing on the corner of the building of Tenshodo was waiting for passersby to shoot his LOVE arrows, but no one in sight. The snow had started accumulating on him too. Poor Cupid~~
Other popular spot in Ginza is the FUJIYA square. A side view of the Fujiya corner, the snow even accumulated on the thin tree branches. Passersby were walking at a slow pace taking care not to slip.
On a regular weekend the pedestrian crossing in front of the Fujiya building is so incredibly busy. On a snowy day like this however, the crossing was barely walkable. We still saw a few people having a go, but it was more sliding than actually walking!
Namiki street sign in Ginza, just outside the GAP store. GAP closed down at an unusual time that day, at around 18:00, due to the heavy snowfall. We ourselves were freezing with no store open to escape for some warmth and the news on the smartphone saying that the subway trains were disrupted. Bad…
The Sony Building in the Ginza Square with its PS4 advertisements were pretty deserted on the inside with the white blanket on the outside.
Thin traffic in Ginza—quite a rare view. This is just two days before Valentine’s Day and is so unusual to have no shoppers on the streets.
I’m sure the koban (police box) officers in Ginza were freezing that day, but they kept on with their duty and provided full service to the public including guiding us to the Hibiya Line which was operational and could take us home. A telephone booth on way back drenched in snow