One dead, 900 hurt in heavy Japan snowfall

TOKYO (AFP) - Heavy snow that blanketed eastern Japan over the holiday weekend left one man dead and injured 900 others, as Tokyo commuters took to the slippery streets on Tuesday.

A low-pressure system, dubbed a "bomb cyclone" by local press, dumped eight centimetres of snow in nine hours, the heaviest snowfall in the region since January 2006, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It left 13 centimetres of snow in neighbouring Yokohama, while mountainous areas around Tokyo saw up to 30 centimetres.

A 71-year-old man in Shiojiri city, Nagano prefecture, died after falling into an open drain as he cleared snow around his house, a fire service spokesman said.