Weather chaos hits Japan tours

Hundreds of Hong Kong vacationers in Japan saw their holidays running on a wild note as the country was hit by a winter blizzard of an intensity rarely seen in the country.

Railways and highways were closed and many flights were delayed.

And flights that were to return Hongkongers to the SAR at the end of the Lunar New Year holiday were being delayed by up to 24 hours.

The Travel Industry Council estimated that around 6,000 Hong Kong holidaymakers in about 200 tour groups were in Japan, though no more than 10 tour groups were known by yesterday to have been hit directly by the wild weather.

Council executive director Fanny Yeung Shuk-fan said some tour members suffered disruptions such as arriving at hotels late or having to change their plans entirely.

Travel agency EGL Tours said about seven groups in Hokkaido, Kanazawa and Fukuoka had to change their itineraries and adjust their hotel bookings due to road closures.

Yuen Chun-ning, executive director of agency WWPKG, said three tour groups with more than 60 members arrived at Kansai International Airport in Osaka on Tuesday afternoon but could only leave at 10.30pm after train services resumed. That followed a bridge connecting the airport and the city being closed due to a fierce snowstorm.

“We had booked train tickets but trains could not operate due to the snow," Yuen said. "There were many stranded visitors waiting to leave" and tour group members "had to carry their luggage and took a train to a station near the center of Osaka.

"We then arranged for a coach to pick them up and they finally arrived at a hotel at 2am."

He also said itineraries to attractions like zoos or cable car rides had been changed to indoor attractions due to the weather.

According to flight information at Hong Kong International Airport a flight scheduled to arrive from Kansai at 9pm on Tuesday was delayed for more than 26 hours and landed at 11.30pm yesterday.

Several other flights from Osaka yesterday were also delayed.

A passenger returning from Japan said he and other tour group members encountered trouble on their return journey to Kansai airport by coach because of the bridge closure.

“We had to wait for 40 minutes for the train, but we almost could not get on the train as many people were waiting and the train was very crowded,” Chan said.

People heading to Japan from Hong Kong yesterday were however sticking to their schedules.

A man named Chan admitted: “I'm worried about the heavy snow, but I have booked the flight tickets.”

Still, agencies said highways and transport facilities were resuming normal operations yesterday following improved weather conditions, and tour groups could stick to itineraries.

An unusually cold weather front and extreme low pressure systems had set snow falling and caused strong winds across Japan from Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Snow was particularly heavy on the west side of the nation facing the Sea of Japan. And the city of Maniwa in north-central Okayama prefecture had a record 92 centimeters of snow in 24 hours to 8am yesterday.

One person was confirmed to have died as a result of the storm and two other reported fatalities were being investigated, chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.

Domestic airlines including ANA and Japan Airlines had by last night cancelled more than 300 flights, and bullet train services were suspended or delayed in northern Japan.

Heavy snow also hit South Korea, with a national cold wave warning issued as the temperature dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius in Seoul.