Snowfall in Ginza

Rare view of Tokyo's most popular shopping district

Manish Prabhune Feb 28, 2014 - 1 min read

<p>The most visited landmark in Ginza, the Wako building with the famous Hattori Clock Tower, all covered in snow.</p>

<p>Heavy accumulation of snow in front of the Marui Department Store. The store had very few customers that day and the announcements kept thanking them for coming in on such a snowy day.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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. I still saw a few people having a go, but it was more sliding than actually walking!</p>

<p>A side view of the Fujiya corner, the snow even accumulated on the thin tree branches.</p>

<p>The Ricoh Photo Gallery building and the Ginza Clock Tower Building. I did stop by at the second floor cafe of the Ricoh building to watch the snowfall and enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee.</p>

<p>I climbed down the slippery stairs of the Ginza Metro station, which was quite an adventure as the wind had blown lots and lots of snow into the entrance of the station.</p>

<p>Thin traffic in Ginza—quite a rare view.</p>

<p>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.</p>

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 I took the chance to shoot at Asakusa and Tokyo Station. This photo story captures the relatively deserted popular shopping district of Ginza on a record snowfall day in February 2014.

Manish Prabhune @manish.prabhune

Travelling to various places and locations in Japan for over 20 years now, I want to share my experiences and also hear about destinations that I still have not been to in the land of the rising sun. Am a photography enthusiast and love to do slow shutter blue hour photography in Tokyo.