As Japan’s deadly winter rages on, fears of ‘disaster-level’ weather patterns mount

South China Morning PostCenter-RightEN 1 min read 100% complete by Julian RyallFebruary 4, 2026 at 04:00 AM

AI Summary

short article 1 min

Japan is experiencing a deadly winter season, with at least 29 deaths and 290 injuries reported since January 20th due to heavy snowfall. Some areas have seen "disaster-level" snowfall, prompting the government to deploy military personnel to assist with snow removal in regions like Aomori. The extreme weather, including record snowfall in some areas, has led to building collapses and fatalities, such as the death of a 91-year-old woman buried under snow. Experts attribute these increasingly unpredictable and severe winter patterns, along with hotter summers, to the effects of climate change. This is the first time in 21 years that the military has been tasked to help residents deal with a snow-related emergency in the Aomori region.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Magonai 40% Tokyo 50% Japanese Military 60% Aomori ×470% Japan ×490%

Keywords

severe winter 90% climate change 80% snowfall 70% weather patterns 60% disaster-level weather 60% deaths 50% global warming 50% military personnel 40% aomori 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Very Negative

Score: -0.70

Source Transparency

Source

South China Morning Post

Political Lean

Center-Right (0.50)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

Japan

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

severe winter climate change snowfall weather patterns disaster-level weather deaths global warming military personnel aomori

Explore Full Topic Graph