Heavy snowfall - more than 10 times the average in some areas - has snarled transportation across northern and western Japan.
Hundreds of passengers spent a cramped and uncomfortable night stuck on a crowded train trapped by heavy snow at a railroad crossing not far from a station in northern Japan. Heavy snowfall also stranded some 410 vehicles in the Hokuriku Expressway in Toyama and Ishikawa prefectures.
(Source: Reuters)