Life in the World's Snowiest City Part 1 | Aomori, Japan

[@allankato8641]

My family and I went to Aomori in late December 2019. Being from the Philippines, I've always been fascinated by snow. We went to Sapporo the year before, and there were 4 out of the 10 days we spent in Sapporo where it didn't snow. The year after, we wanted daily snow and weren't disappointed in Aomori. It snowed every day of the 4 days we spent there. We missed going up Hakkoda because -- you guessed it -- it was snowing so much. The best thing about Aomori is that it isn't so cold and rarely windy. What a beautiful, small city. Would love to go back.

[@melkieantilles]

I've been subscribed to your channel for about 6 years, and I've been living in Aomori for the past 3 (in that area where "theres not a lot of people living" at the beginning) and I absolutely loved this video! Your dedication to showing the real every day workings of the city really showed through the great footage. If you had come about a week or 2 earlier, you'd have been able to see us getting so much snow that the streets in the city were complete chaos and some train lines were shut down for days. I'm looking forward to part 2!

[@LifeWhereImFrom]

Oh, neat! I personally love snow storms, so I would have loved to see that.

[@fernbedek6302]

I saw some of that chaos on the Japanese travelling channels I follow.

[@beritbunny]

That’s amazing!!! 🥰

[@ramushsteinuts9318]

that's great. it would put an end for all in homelessness. wish brazil was like that. would make the city a lot prettier (people would show less their skin condition), safer, quieter. very nice

[@ramushsteinuts9318]

what i get from japan is whatever work you do you are considered valuable to the collective. correct me if I'm wrong. collective consciousness in japan maybe is the most developed worldwide. I know Germany is good at it too.

[@__aceofspades]

I didnt realize Japan/Aomori got this much snow... Somehow the Hokkaido region seems like it has been represented as the snowiest part of Japan. I like snow, but personally my favorite part of seeing snow in Japan is how it looks on some of the older building architecture and how you can bathe in a hot spring bath while snow is falling all around you. Anyways, thanks for this video, I look forward to part 2.

[@LifeWhereImFrom]

Hokkaido also gets lots of snow! Sapporo is the #2 snowiest city. Basically along the west coast in the north, all of the area get dumped with snow because of the warmer ocean hair hitting the Siberian cold front that blows in.

[@あきす-h6j]

Maybe it’s the image of Snow Festival. In fact, Hokkaido is too cold to have much snow. But this year was very heavy snow.

[@standin.excaliblur7510]

even places like northern Hyogo and Tottori received plenty snow during winter. Albeit it doesn't last long like in Tohoku or Hokkaido.

[@davidhill850]

Sitting in an onsen during a blizzard is epic. I love Gero-Onsen.

[@hendifaisal9441]

Growing up in a tropical country, I never imagined how hard it would be to clear snow. Aomori is my #1 city I want to visit when I go to Japan someday.

[@yogadarmawan3051]

But tropical countries have more diversity of animals and plants! Thats why world need tropical forests To fight global warming!

[@taekyamtaekyam3619]

same

[@ahomelessjellyfish4187]

@@yogadarmawan3051 dude you're off-topic.

[@peachteagirl]

@@yogadarmawan3051 And Aomori has snow :)

[@Alex_Gordon]

Malaysia?

[@eveb446]

I have just seen this video and I enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing, from Canada.

[@Jordan-inJapan]

Wow. As someone who lives in Mie prefecture (central Japan), where it doesn’t really snow, it really makes me appreciate how ‘climatically diverse’ this country is. Now, I’m originally from Canada too, and I admit I sometimes miss the snow. But…maybe I should just be content to drive up to Shiga or Gifu for the weekend when I need my fix.

[@LifeWhereImFrom]

Yeah, that's one of the things I really like about Japan, how you can get such different climates by travelling a little bit. But yeah, you can definitely get your snow fix if you got to the right spots. I love snow so I was like a kid in a candy shop over there!

[@Jordan-inJapan]

@@LifeWhereImFrom Yeah, it looked like a lot of fun!

[@user-no2mz9hl4f]

I knew a woman who grew up in Okinawa, and she said it was very tropical - running around in t-shirts on Christmas Day. Japan is remarkably diverse for such a small country (compared to Canada or China).

[@49ers1975]

i would agree...japan has such a diverse weather that if you don't like snow go down south..want to enjoy for the weekend go up to sapporo and what not up north..

[@mikeymoose7253]

@@user-no2mz9hl4f small, but very long!

[@FrancisCharetteMigneault]

As a resident of Québec, Canada (5th place in the list), I can tell the guys clearing the snow in Japan are very lucky to not have to deal with cars parked in the streets. That makes it so much easier for them to cleanup everything efficiently. Here, we have to switch parking side every second day so they can pass to remove snow, meaning most streets are only half cleaned for at least the next 4 following days (and that's if there's not another snowstorm until then). It is also a logical nightmare to find parking spots when half the spaces are not available because of piles of snow. It's very nice to see how different locations handle these large quantities of snow very differently.

[@DMorga]

Same, I'm from Michigan (we've got cities around the 8th or 9th o the list) and I'm really envious of the no parking thing. That's got to be the number one reason they can handle things so efficiently, makes organizing so much easier. No getting your car plowed in has got to be great too

[@SheriSmiles22]

So glad you were able to finally create this video. I feel very fortunate to be able to see such excellent videos for free on you tube. Thank you!

[@stinkychihuahua1586]

My husband is from Hirosaki, Aomori. We go there every winter and I lived there for years. Go there next year! The temperatures are lower and snowfall is very consistent. Especially towards Iwaki Mountain. Highly recommend.

[@brianconley3772]

They used to dump snow into the harbor in Boston, but it isn’t allowed any longer due to pollution concerns. During bad winters there are snow melters that melt and filter the resulting water out, and that can be released into the ocean. Most of the time the snow is put into snow farms, and it is always fun to see when the pile will melt and what will be found in the snow as it recedes! Thank you for the video, this was an interesting look at this region of Japan!

[@LifeWhereImFrom]

Interesting! Never heard of this before.

[@brianconley3772]

@@littlekirby6 Yes, that winter was a classic! :)

[@banshee1133]

What do you mean by pollution? Like some plastic/bottles/trash etc would wound up in the snow and thrown in the water?

[@brianconley3772]

@@banshee1133 Yes, there is that concern, but also the snow picks up oil, fuel, and other automobile fluids. Boston Harbor has become so much cleaner over the past several decades and the city is protective of it.

[@prettying]

Came to the comments to see if anyone spoke about this. It's the same in Halifax, Nova Scotia -- not allowed to dump snow into the harbour anymore.

[@Roossii]

As someone who never saw snow in my entire life, this video puts a little smile on my face. :)

[@Mark-OutWest]

9:04 the spice must flow as well..... Great job on this! So funny to see snow being dumped in the ocean. And snow drift screens, amazing.

[@user-wy7lj5ll9h]

just for those of you who are interested, Aomori is also known as a prefecture that has the most numbers(sort) of accent(Ho-gen) in Japan

[@user-wy7lj5ll9h]

by the way, I'm a 100%Japanese person who came to this video because i was simply wondering which city snows the most and surprised that it was Aomori Japan. I thought it would be like Siberia's city(if there is) or Canada

[@naaadjeleyosekre6624]

The snow sounds so crispy with every step on it.

As someone who grew up and still lives in a warm country where it basically doesn't snow, I find this extremely interesting. Everything looks BEAUTIFUL but also very inconvenient at the same time.

[@telefrag.]

Fresh snow looks and feels great, but it gets old really quick. Takes me about a month to wish spring would come sooner.

[@commentarytalk1446]

Just replace "snow" with "sand" and another part of the world and consider all the "fighting nature = nature always wins in the end" consequences. There's got to be a more elaborate solution in both cases?! ;-)

[@Direwoof]

Just keep in mind in teh world more ppl die of heat stroke then freezing to death. Heat is more dangerous than cold.

[@Saber23]

It’s not that inconvenient when you get used to it and know how to deal with it, it’s the same with things overheating where you’re from I guess

[@Saber23]

@@Direwoof are you stupid? Humans are naturally warm creatures even though some of us like the cold so cold is automatically more dangerous for us

[@mk9232]

Living in a much warmer part of Japan this was eye opening. Thanks.

[@PrettyTranslatorSarahMoon]

Watching how the snow-clearing infrastructure works is so cool! I live in a city that barely gets any snow, and because of this, when it does snow, we don't have any infrastructure to handle it and everything just comes to a standstill.

[@LifeWhereImFrom]

I think that's the big thing. They have the infrastructure and the workforce to deal with the snow, so what would shut down other cities is just another day.

[@hovanti]

Thanks for this video, Greg, nice seeing Aomori again! I lived in Aomori prefecture (Misawa) from '84-'87, and had friends in Aomori...been there by car, train, and bus. I even got up to the Sapporo Snow Festival in '86. I miss the people the most...

[@asuranrocks]

omg i am planning to go to aomori in jan and now i'm thinking twice

[@markrichards6863]

I love the snow.

[@marig9236]

in nyc, all the snow removed (mere feet compared to Aomori) goes to a melting facility and that water is treated and pumped back into our water supply. So we never need to conserve as much as other places, so long as we get a lot of snow.

[@morgannelafay]

Hi from Czech Republic. I miss snow so much. Nowadays it snows less and less and winter is usually warmer than it was in my childhood.

[@user-no2mz9hl4f]

That sunset was indeed beautiful. It looked like melted gold, and was especially pretty with the frosted trees in the foreground.

[@FreedomSprout]

I've spent a lot of time in Aomori City and made videos about it. The piles of snow are crazy. The first time I went, I thought there were hills everywhere. I didn't realize it was just piles and piles of snow.

[@AnthonyStJames-yn8nr]

As someone who was born and raised in the Philippines and has lived in Ontario, Canada, I can say that snow can be a bit of a nuisance and a danger, especially when ice forms when the white stuff melts. I can also honestly say that I would gladly trade my life in the tropics for a life in Japan's winter wonderland, I'm just tired of sweating and feeling hot.

[@samjones4327]

Amazing!!! Thank you for showing us this wonderous snow city!!! Cheers!

[@junichijam5364]

My childhood home ❤️

[@arceus54321]

this is crazy! we got a ton of snow here in toronto in january, around 45 cm and i thought that was a ton. really interesting to see how they deal with so much snow. i love your channel Greg because you make really interesting videos on topics i'd never think about

[@misawajason]

The now there is no joke. Lived in MIsawa for 11 years and saw first hand over and over again how much snow comes down on that city. Thanks for highlighting the awesome city of Aomori!

[@kq3422]

Haha your sister in law is so cute. It’s nice to see her helping you out with vids!

[@kariff89]

man, that snow monster of the trees in the mountain is awesome! great video!

[@hebneh]

You wonder how the trees survive in such conditions...but actually, snow serves as insulation for plants, and protects them from the effects of the frigid wind that would dry them out and cause more damage.

[@KristianWontroba]

While in Erie, PA for grad school, they would dump cleared snow either in the forest or into lake Erie. Huge snow banks along the streets in your video reminded me of living there. Erie gets on average about 100 inches or 2.54 meters annually (ranked 3rd in the US for average annual snowfall). Great video!

[@suwirwong]

What a beautiful snowy city

[@wisewillow5731]

Wow that’s amazing! We stopped for the night there in 2015, saw old snow at the station in April, but never had any idea that it was the snowiest city in the world!!! Lovely documentary, thank you :)

[@Amygaladriel2012]

I'm so glad I subscribed to your channel, years ago. Seeing your skills evolve over time has been a pleasure. This video was top-notch, worthy of a TV network. Well done! Very interesting!

[@terratrent6540]

I am fascinated by infrastructure, especially how different cities and municipalities in Japan manage and maintain their snow during the winter!

[@NBGTFO]

I had absolutely no idea Japan got this much (or any) snow!

[@hansklok3564]

In the skie world we also call it japow, for all the powder japan has

[@GameFuMaster]

snowy cities seem to have a huge upkeep

[@riccorich]

I used to live in Misawa AB in the 80s and went to Amori for the cherry blossom festival

[@konjfful2963]

I will be studying abroad in Hirosaki for a full year, so I will make sure to watch your 3 part series on Aomori very carefully! I'm super excited, and as someone who gets 0 snow in California (unless I drive 5 hours north to find it), I am excited to be able to walk to school and coffee shops and restaurants in the snow with friends I make. It will be a brand new experience, and an experience of a lifetime that's for sure! I really appreciate all your videos and your channel!

[@sarahwren1598]

I love how you show real every day life! This brought me back to when I lived in Vermont near Montreal. One dump truck would come to town and help us dump snow in the nearby river.

[@hikodzu]

Snowy snow

[@richardjohntierney5434]

Really love this series, shows parts of Japan we would never see. Thanks

[@jessicaarttans4415]

Thank you for this informative video. I appreciate how hard working the city workers to keep the city going during tough snowy season and to ensure everyone's safety. And on personal note, Tateda san's voice is very pleasant to the ear!

[@dresk7958]

Snow dumping into the ocean is so beautiful!❄️

[@CptWerQ]

Here in Helsinki, Finland, we used to dump most of the snow in the ocean. Now it is avoided as much as possible, since dumping in the ocean puts a lot of trash, salt and oil straight in the ocean. Everything generates pollutants, and if the snow isn't dumped in the ocean, it at least has a chance to ... not be there.

[@LifeWhereImFrom]

I was wondering about this. The roads aren't salted or sanded as far as I know, but they do have some kind of melting agent that they do use which I'm trying to get the name of. How does the snow get taken care of in Finland then? If you put it on land, everything would get into the soil, no?

[@sphynx2918]

@@LifeWhereImFrom from what i know the snow is now brought to snow melters where the water gets filtererd and put into the ocean.

[@gearupaaron]

How about melted snow run-off from the streets that make their way into the sewer or water-ways? Here in Maine US, they unfortunately salt and sometimes dump into the river. If there were any environmental concerns, they're probably rationalizing that if the salt and other chemicals eventually drain into the rivers and oceans as snowmelt, why not just dump it as needed? I'm curious how that's dealt with in Finland.

[@sneezing_panda]

@@sphynx2918 Might do it like NYC and just have those snow melters where they chuck em in via loader.

[@Ryptahi]

In Finland they actually ban using the salt during the winter. From what I understand, most of the snow is just pushed on side of the road, and in the places that is not possible, they gather it and dump it to designated snow dumping area similar to Japan. This however leaves so much snow behind on less populated roads, that every winter is like living nightmare when you try to use the car (and yes those cars get stuck so often parking lots etc).

[@OldMan_PJ]

When I lived in Northern Illinois they would just have plows push the snow to the side of the road. Since the roads here have shoulders it would primarily just block the shoulder, but to get roads passable quicker they would often only clear one lane each way until they had more time to come back and clear more. Same thing with parking lots, they would just plow to one area of the parking lot building a huge snow mountain. The only time I saw dump trucks hauling away snow was when we had a blizzard. Driving over compacted slush like that bus was doing was always the worst, second only to ice of course. During morning commutes I would often see a car or two in a ditch along side the road from someone trying to drive too fast, roads there had speed limits of 50MPH and no reduction for the Winter months, people were just left to drive whatever speed they felt comfortable with. You would have people going everything from 20MPH to 50+MPH. Intersections would always have tons of slush from idiots that didn't clear their cars off before driving. They would stop at red lights and all the snow would fall off there making it slippery for everyone else.

[@kamimunOfficial]

This was such a great video =) So interesting!

[@chescag7547]

best way to spend 17 mins of my life. thank you for this beautiful video!

[@jody024]

Cities i could live at very happily!

[@treyustevens9361]

You're so awesome thanks for the video

[@Razzlewolfflight]

It’s cute how close you and Akko-san have become. I love her helping in videos!

[@rosarioarquero-martin3461]

That is a lot of snow. Thank you for another great video.

[@LadyJennivieve]

Watching the line of dump trucks behind the snow plows reminds me of the haul outs that follow the sugar cane harvesters.

[@jyoo1914]

thank you greg for showing me more about public works in one video than ive ever seen in action in my life!!!

[@catchyname5403]

Absolutely fascinating!! You are amazing at what you do Thank you

[@marie-pascalegagne6001]

That is so interesting! Im from Quebec, Canada and I didnt even know that we are in the top 5!

[@sarahreaume6659]

my city is mentioned as well where I am though we get the really thick snow as I live on a hill

[@beritbunny]

I really appreciate the cooperation of organizations like the bus authority and City to let you capture footage as well as interview cooperation. Thanks so much to everyone who made this possible for me to see! ❤️❤️👏👏👏👏☃️❄️🌨

[@saturn_in_blue]

Most relaxing video ever. So great.

[@ms_cartographer]

I love snow. I wish I could live in one of those cities.

[@PMfromMB]

Hey I'm From Winnipeg! Love the footage of the river trails at the beginning!

[@kuyache2]

Amazing! Cant wait for the next parts. Non snow dwellers like us could only imagine such life so thanks for making videos and have us get a glimpse. They should invent a treatment facility where the collected snow is processed taking the soil so it can be resold/reused, water dumped properly while also removing garbage from it. ^_^

[@LifeWhereImFrom]

I wouldn't imagine there'd be much soil in any of the snow, but I've read in other comments that other countries do in fact have treatment facilities.

[@tea-and-biscuits]

Thank you Greg for this informative and fascinating documentary!

[@christophe7070]

Thank you so much for this. My favorite part was where they dumped the snow into the ocean that was really interesting!

[@fakefan2960]

I live in Canada and when they clear the snow from the roads they always leave huge snow banks in the intersections on residential streets banks so high you can’t see oncoming traffic so there’s a huge influx of accidents. Also they are always still clearing during rush hour and it gets in the way of everyone. very frustrating

[@mshuangpeiling_1563]

so insightful! and not the usual travel video. thumbs up! thanks for sharing this video. :)

[@Karozy4869]

0:48 hey I know this place. Rambalac walked through here in his New Year video.

[@LifeWhereImFrom]

This is pretty much in the centre of Aomori.

[@mashrafi6670]

Long time no LWIF uploads! Glad to have you back. Hope you and the kids and everyone are well. Edit: spelling

[@guhhhh8588]

To chip and shovel away at the snow from the flatbed trucks in order to throw into the sea looks like great exercise + getting a nice view, at least from the eyes of a foreigner.

[@beritbunny]

Thanks for hanging in there until a good season to film finally arrived! I’m enjoying seeing it so much! ❤️

[@brightdaysaheadofUs]

I miss your videos.. glad you uploaded 1 already.. :)

[@jesmiscellaneous8938]

Watching this was so ridiculously cool and educational

[@bopuc]

Funny coincidence. KZbin served up one of your earlier "living in Japan" videos and I watched a few. I'm a Canadian who's been coming to Japan for about 20 years and lots of stuff resonated. Then I come across this one. Hilarious. I've been living in Aomori in the winters for the last 5 years, specifically to snowboard as much as I can at Hakkoda. Laughed out loud seeing some of the local regulars you caught on the ropeway (the old guy in flowery pink, the local fireman who wears all red snow gear…). I'm originally from Montreal, right in the zone of the lower half of those other snowiest cities you showed, so I feel right at home here. Wouldn't mind a poutine though. :) I actually remember the specific night you shot the snow clearing operations. It's an amazing thing in the residential neighborhoods, sort of like you show. We have what my wife terms "snow shovelling party": the plows come through and all the neighbors come out to chop up the snowbanks and push them into the road. That night, we got pretty soaked. And yeah, it's always a surprise when they show up. We'll be in bed already and suddenly hear the bulldozers… "oh!" haha

[@kaze987]

LOVE IT! Cheers from Burnaby, BC, where we had both a terrible heat dome in 2021 and a deep arctic freeze that same winter. Not fun!

[@nathan_7181]

The quality of your videos are insane! Amazing work!

[@alibhg3063]

The Aomori bridge looks almost identical to the Boston Zakim bridge in my state of Massachusetts. That's the first thing I noticed lol.

[@foodtravellife88]

I'm so happy to see you making videos again!!

[@JonnyD000]

Winnipeg this year has had an unusual amount of snow and has felt similar to what I see in this video. Really high snow banks, shrunk roads.

[@chrishuston4445]

Thank you for your wonderful video series. Very educational and entertaining.

[@dieselxdan]

I love, love this series!!!! Great job 😊

[@UmaiSeries]

Very much interested to visit Aomori someday, but not with too much snow. Thank you for showing us how it’s like to be there during winter. 🥶 ⛄️ ❄️

[@akirebara]

I live in Chicago and we get our fair share of snow in the winter (we got lucky this year, pretty mild). This is soooo fascinating, mainly because of how efficient Japan handles the snow clearing. Since we get our drinking water from Lake Michigan, Chicago has a snow dumping ground in the city (no dumping in the lake).

[@FrankMustermann0815]

Amazing video. I recognize a lot of those places in Aomori which I visited in February 2020. Thank you!

[@clarkymoii]

Thank u greg!! Staysafe!! 🙏

[@heartoflotus]

The snow monster trees are amazing to see. I'm glad that I do not live in snow country. I would not want to worry about being injured or dying from snow falling from the roofs as i walked around. The snow clearing work was fascinating! Thank you for sharing! 🙏

[@yippie6862]

Really great documentary. Well done. 👍

[@chuckleomg]

Aomori's snow clearing operations are on another level!

[@yeevita]

Wow, amazing city, story and video. All the snow clearing vehicles are remarkable. I really enjoyed seeing how they worked.

[@alexanderherzog3064]

Im from Minnesota but live in Mississippi, so seeing this reminds me of home in some weird way

[@menohaveaname]

I found this way too fascinating! Your videos are the best!

[@Dan-xo9ly]

the skiing is amazing!

[@bluj4559]

Wow, the 'snow monsters' and the overall scene on Mt Hakoda are pretty wild.. like from another planet! I wonder what kind of trees those are, and what that same trek looks like in July? Looking forward to parts 2 & 3❄👍🤗

[@sariechizen7414]

They are conifer, Abies mariessi、one of the pine tree.

[@brentandmolly]

SO EXCITING :D We are heading here next after Sapporo Cant wait!

[@camh2899]

This was so fun to see/watch!! We are from central Texas so almost NEVER see snow. Then we moved to Sapporo it was sooooooo COOL and COLD!! 🥶 a VERY BIG learning curve for us. We have since had to move back to Texas but my now 2 yr old was born there and it was soooooo FUN to see him watching the vehicles and all the snow ❄️ because he doesn’t remember having to go to hoikuen and travel through all the snow haha 😂 thank you so much for the video!!!

[@LifeWhereImFrom]

Glad you enjoyed. Must have been a shock returning to Texas as well, no?

[@alexisghillis7799]

Great content. I am impressed 👌

[@etherdog]

Greg, we love these infrastructure stories about Life in Japan! You do such great work, so thanks!

[@cassiuslives4807]

This makes me want to visit during winter.

[@junayedonmove129]

Here in Canada it snows and temperatures goes below- 15•. Aomori is the perfect place to enjoy snow. Temperatures rarely goes below 0•.

[@FrancisCharetteMigneault]

And -15°C are on good days, sometimes it goes down to -30° if not even lower. You start to hate snow when it freeze your face so much, but it did look pleasant in Aomori.

[@JBG1968]

It’s not the snow you hate but the extreme cold . I like winter and snow . I don’t do well in hot temperatures . I look forward to the snow every year . But admittedly by the end of January or so I’m ready for spring . But I never look forward to summer heat .

[@Desaree1]

I absolutely LOVE this channel.

[@MA-go7ee]

'It dump trucks all the way down' ... sounds like my local yoga classes 😉