Compare Prices This Picturesque Japanese Village Is One Of The Snowiest Places On The Planet

If your preferred vacation activities lean toward making snowfall angel in deep impetus and sip hot hot chocolate past the fire while pretty white flake gently swirl outside, put the picturesque Japanese settlement ofShirakawa-goon your dreaming travel list.

This mountain hamlet be one of the white spots inch Japanese Islands — and the world. Shirakawa-go, which literally interpret to “white river village,” tin have virtually four hundred in of snowfall every year (that’s around 33 feet). inch comparison, Syracuse, new York — routinely name one of the unite States’ white urban center — have closer to 120 inch annually.

Interestingly, the “lake effect” snow we see inch thegreat lakepart in North America is amplified inJapan, where there’s “ocean effect” snow. Weather shape blow from Siberia across the (relatively warm) Sea of Japan, creating clouds with lots of moisture. When these cloud enter the higher altitudes of the Japanese Alps, they shit out all the precipitation they’ve make up in the form of snow.

The area’s snowfall typically pass off in early December and continues to compile until at least late February, fit in to theShirakawa-go Tourist association.

The village be famous for IT Jan and February wintertime nighttime illuminations of IT historic houses cover in snow. This series of weekly “light-ups” is a particularly lovely clip to visit, as edifice are illume in sync for angstrom couple of hours on certain Sunday nights, devising the wintertime snowglobe scene especially idyllic.

Shirakawa-go’s climate really have angstrom unit hand in UNESCO designate the village, along with neighbor Gokayama, angstromuniverse heritage Site. The villages’ steeply pitched, thatched-roof army hut were specifically designed to withstand heavy sum of snowfall, and some date back 250 years.

More than 100 of these Gassho-style buildings remain today, and United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization note they are the solitary examples of their kind inch Japan. century ago, house would dwell inch the unco mold homes on the lower berth level, and then up inch the rafters, they’d raise silkworms for their trade. “The Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama are outstanding representative of traditional human colony that are absolutely adapted to their environment and their social and economical raison d’être,” notes the UNESCO website.

Because of IT solitary location, surrounded past mountains on all side and shut polish off to the remainder of the macrocosm before modern transportation, villagers here developed not sole this unusual type of architecture but as well A strong sense of community.

Experience the local hospitality on a visit to Shirakawa-go, locate 100 land mile North of Nagoya. You tin reach the village via autobus or train from major cities. Be certain to plurality warm up winter clothing and stout footwear to visit this magical, historic village in the winter months. And if bundling up isn’t your thing, other seasons are as inviting as the country erupts in pink cherry flower in the spring, souse greenery in the summer, and changing leaf in the fall.