People in Tokyo are pampered babies who can't even handle a little bit of snow! Or so I thought...
When I lived in elsewhere in Japan, I remember seeing news about snow in Tokyo. If something happens in Tokyo, it always makes news all over the country. Inevitably, they showed many video clips of people slipping, hurting themselves, and generally unable to cope with the weather.
I always thought ‘wow! People in Tokyo can’t even deal with a little snow! Pathetic pampered city people’
Now that I live in Tokyo I have changed my mind!
Snow in Tokyo is completely different. I was just being ignorant because I have never been in a big city when it snows. I had no idea.
Perhaps you can imagine the situation: it has just snowed a lot and the sidewalks are covered in snow. As you walk, your feet sink into the fresh powder snow. You are not worried about slipping, you are worried that you might get snow in your sock and your feet will get wet.
If it is a busy sidewalk, the snow has been stepped on a lot and it is compacted into a dense layer. You have to be careful, but in general it is not that slippery. You can avoid the worst of it by stepping over or around the bad areas.
In the worst situation, so many people have walked on the snow that it has turned into ice. A very thin layer of clear ice. It is so smooth and clear that you might not even notice it. It is very slippery, and very dangerous.
As an aside, in America we call this ice 'black ice'. The reason we say 'black' is because the ice is black, the same color as asphalt, therefore 'invisible'. We should really call it clear ice but that doesn't sound as good...
The reason snow is different in Tokyo is that every square inch of sidewalk is black ice. There are so many people! The entire sidewalk, for the entire length of the street, all across the entire city, gets stepped on, compacted, and turned into ice. You can’t escape it. You will walk on super slippery dangerous ice. You will slip. It will hurt.
Next time you see the video clip of Tokyo people slipping and falling try to remember that anyone will slip if they walk on that street. Most people in Tokyo moved here after graduating a university and that person who just fell on their butt probably grew up somewhere else anyways!
