Japan has a statutory answer to the question of where it snows. Three ministers designate municipalities under a 1962 Act, and the designation now covers 532 municipalities holding 50.8 per cent of the country’s land area and 14.5 per cent of its population.
That gap between land and people is the shape of snow in Japan. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism publishes the figures in its progress report on heavy snowfall measures, dated February 2025. This article works through what the designation is, which regions carry it, what the designated areas actually receive, and how the Meteorological Agency names its snow products. Every figure below comes from the ministry’s report, the text of the Act itself, or the Meteorological Agency’s own page on warning types.
The designation covers 532 municipalities, and a second tier covers 201 of them
The Act creates two tiers. A heavy snowfall area is designated for land where, in the Act’s own words, snowfall is so severe that industrial development is stagnant and the improvement of residents’ living standards is obstructed. A special heavy snowfall area is a part of an already designated area where the depth of snow is particularly great and residents face significant disruption, such as road traffic being cut off for long periods.
The ministry’s table sets both tiers against the national totals.
| Measure | National | Heavy snowfall area | Of which special |
|---|---|---|---|
| Municipalities | 1,719 | 532 (30.9 per cent) | 201 (11.7 per cent) |
| Area (km²) | 377,975 | 191,990 (50.8 per cent) | 74,899 (19.8 per cent) |
| Population (thousands) | 126,146 | 18,248 (14.5 per cent) | 2,793 (2.2 per cent) |
The three rows do not share a reference date, and the ministry says so in its notes. The municipality count is as at 1 April 2024, with Tokyo’s 23 special wards counted as a single city. The area figures come from the Geospatial Information Authority’s national area survey as at 1 October 2019. The population comes from the 2020 census. Any comparison across the three rows is therefore a comparison across three different moments, and the percentages in the table are the ministry’s own, not a calculation made here.
The notes carry one further exclusion. Sendai, Koriyama, Shizuoka and Otsu are each only partly designated, and because the undesignated part of each holds a large population, the ministry leaves all four out of the heavy-snowfall population figure altogether. Four cities are named in that exclusion.
Three ministers sign the designation, and the Act leaves Tokyo out
Article 2 assigns the designation to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications and the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries acting together. For the first tier they must follow standards set by cabinet order and hear the opinion of the National Land Council. For the second tier they must follow standards the three of them set after a resolution of that Council. Article 2 also requires public notice once a designation is made.
The Act’s wording for what can be designated is the whole or part of the area of a dofuken, the term Japanese statutes use for a prefecture other than the Tokyo Metropolis. The same term runs through the Act: prefectural basic plans are written by dofuken governors, and the substitution provision in Article 14 is a dofuken substitution. The ministry’s report counts 24 dofuken as holding designated land, of which 13 have drawn up a prefectural basic plan. That plan is optional, and 11 of the 24 have not written one; that subtraction is made here.
The Chugoku region’s special column is a dash, not a number
The ministry prints a regional map with the municipality count for each region and the special-tier count in brackets. Reading the map’s labels gives seven regions.
| Region | Designated municipalities | Of which special tier |
|---|---|---|
| Hokkaido | 179 | 86 |
| Tohoku | 161 | 69 |
| Hokuriku | 81 | 30 |
| Chugoku | 41 | printed as a dash |
| Chubu | 34 | 14 |
| Kinki | 19 | 1 |
| Kanto | 17 | 1 |
Adding the second column gives 532, and adding the third gives 201 once the Chugoku dash is treated as nothing. Both additions are made here, not printed by the ministry. Chugoku is the only one of the seven regions whose special-tier cell is a dash: it holds 41 designated municipalities and no entry at all in the stricter tier. Kinki and Kanto each hold exactly one.
The special tier carries two measures, and both run to March 2032
The report separates what the two tiers receive. For the first tier, the state’s duties are grants and other necessary measures for local authorities that organise snow clearance and safety work, and the state and local authorities are both told to give consideration to promoting lifeline anchor installation, to developing and spreading snow-management technology, and to organising clearance that keeps trunk roads open, among other necessary measures.
The second tier adds exactly two special measures, and the report gives them an expiry. Article 14 lets a dofuken carry out, under the Basic Plan, the reconstruction of the trunk municipal roads the land minister designates, in place of the municipality. Article 15 raises the state’s share of the cost of building and rebuilding branch premises and the like of public primary and lower secondary schools. The report dates the special measures to 1971, when they were created for ten years, and records that the period has been extended every ten years since. The current period runs to the end of March 2032.
The latest amendment was in March 2022. The report lists what that amendment added beyond the extension: a statement of basic principles among other general provisions, and four provisions on measures the state and local authorities are to take — keeping trunk roads open, promoting lifeline anchor installation, securing safety in local clearance work, and grants to local authorities.
The seventh basic plan was decided in cabinet on 9 December 2022
Article 3 requires the three ministers to decide a Basic Plan for Heavy Snowfall Areas, and requires a cabinet decision before they do. The plan in force is the seventh, decided in cabinet on 9 December 2022. Article 4 fixes what the plan must cover, in five numbered items: transport and communications facilities for the snow season, including roads, railways, tramways and ports; prevention of snow damage in agriculture and forestry; educational, health and social welfare facilities suited to local conditions; land conservation facilities; and other important matters specified by cabinet order.
Article 4 also tells the ministers to pay particular regard to maintaining and improving living standards in the special tier when they draw the plan up.
The emergency grant has reached 43 bodies, 41 of them among the 532 municipalities
The report tracks take-up of the Emergency Grant for Securing Safety in Heavy Snowfall Areas. The cumulative figure is 43 bodies, split as 2 dofuken and 41 municipalities. The report then states the ratio itself: of the 532 designated municipalities, about 7 per cent, or 41 municipalities, have used the grant. The 2 and the 41 add to the 43, and that addition is made here.
Eight of the Meteorological Agency’s 37 products carry the character for snow
Where the Act draws a boundary, the Meteorological Agency names hazards. Its page on warning types lists four grades: 8 emergency warnings, 4 danger warnings, 8 warnings and 17 advisories. Counting the entries gives 37 products, and that total is an addition made here from the Agency’s four stated counts.
Eight of the 37 carry the character for snow in their names: heavy snow emergency warning, snowstorm emergency warning, heavy snow warning, snowstorm warning, heavy snow advisory, wind-and-snow advisory, snow-accretion advisory and snowmelt advisory. The avalanche advisory is caused by snow but does not carry the character. Of those eight, three are about how much snow falls — the heavy snow emergency warning, warning and advisory — and the Agency defines the emergency one as issued when snowfall of a kind seen once in several decades is forecast.
A snowstorm warning in Japan is not heavy snow plus wind
The Agency states this twice, once for each grade. A snowstorm warning is issued for a violent wind accompanied by snow, and it warns both about the wind and about visibility being cut off by snow blowing about. The page then says explicitly that it does not mean heavy snow plus violent wind, and that where heavy snow is forecast to cause a serious disaster the Agency issues a heavy snow warning instead. The wind-and-snow advisory carries the same disclaimer against being read as heavy snow plus strong wind.
The remaining snow-named advisories are narrower still. The snow-accretion advisory is for electric wires and the like breaking and transmission towers and the like collapsing under adhering snow, which the Agency says happens readily near 0°C. The snowmelt advisory is for landslides and flooding caused by lying snow melting. The avalanche advisory, which is caused by snow but not named for it, is for snow on a slope collapsing onto people or buildings. Subtracting the three heavy snow products from the eight leaves five that can be issued without any forecast of how much snow will fall, and that subtraction is made here.
For the records and normals behind the weather itself, see Hokkaido’s share of the national temperature and snow-depth records, which works from the Agency’s extremes tables rather than from the designation.
Sources Checked
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, National Spatial Planning and Regional Policy Bureau — progress report on measures in heavy snowfall areas, February 2025
Confirmed that 532 municipalities are designated as heavy snowfall areas and 201 as special heavy snowfall areas; that the national totals are 1,719 municipalities, 377,975 km² and 126,146 thousand people, against 191,990 km² (50.8 per cent) and 18,248 thousand (14.5 per cent) for the first tier and 74,899 km² (19.8 per cent) and 2,793 thousand (2.2 per cent) for the second; that the municipality shares are 30.9 and 11.7 per cent; that the municipality count is as at 1 April 2024 with Tokyo’s 23 wards counted as one city, the area from the Geospatial Information Authority survey as at 1 October 2019 and the population from the 2020 census; that Sendai, Koriyama, Shizuoka and Otsu are excluded from the heavy-snowfall population; that the regional labels read Hokkaido 179 (86), Tohoku 161 (69), Hokuriku 81 (30), Chugoku 41 (dash), Chubu 34 (14), Kinki 19 (1) and Kanto 17 (1); that 24 dofuken hold designated land and 13 have prefectural plans; that the special measures were created in 1971, extended every ten years and now run to the end of March 2032; that the latest amendment was March 2022 and added basic principles plus four provisions; that the seventh Basic Plan was decided in cabinet on 9 December 2022; and that the emergency grant has been used by 43 bodies, being 2 dofuken and 41 municipalities, or about 7 per cent of the 532.
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kokudoseisaku/chisei/content/001881218.pdf
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, e-Gov law database — Act on Special Measures for Heavy Snowfall Areas, Act No. 73 of 1962
Confirmed the Article 1 statement of purpose; that Article 2 assigns designation to the ministers of land, internal affairs and agriculture, requires cabinet-order standards and the National Land Council’s opinion for the first tier and the Council’s resolution for the second, and requires public notice; that the Act’s unit of designation is the whole or part of the area of a dofuken; that Article 3 requires a Basic Plan decided in cabinet; that Article 4 fixes five items for the plan and requires particular regard for the special tier; and that Articles 14 and 15 are the dofuken substitution for trunk municipal roads and the raised state share for public school branch premises.
https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/api/1/lawdata/337AC1000000073
Japan Meteorological Agency — types of weather warnings and advisories
Confirmed that the page lists 8 emergency warnings, 4 danger warnings, 8 warnings and 17 advisories; that eight entries carry the character for snow; that the heavy snow emergency warning is for snowfall of a kind seen once in several decades; that the snowstorm warning and the wind-and-snow advisory each state they do not mean heavy snow combined with wind and that a heavy snow warning or advisory is issued instead; and the stated contents of the snow-accretion, snowmelt and avalanche advisories.
https://www.jma.go.jp/jma/kishou/know/bosai/warning_kind.html
Last updated: October 2026
