Blizzard derails high-speed bullet train.
In one incident, a woman and her three children were found dead after becoming trapped in their car in Nakashibetsu, a town in eastern Hokkaido prefecture, police told CNN.
Authorities believe they died of carbon monoxide poisoning, because the car’s engine was left running and its exhaust pipe and windows were buried under snow.
Four other people in the region died from causes related to the heavy snowfall.
Meanwhile, a bullet train en route from Tokyo to Akita derailed during blizzard conditions near Daisen in Akita prefecture.
The train was travelling at a drastically reduced speed of around 20 kilometres (12 miles) per hour due to the snow, when a number of wheels skipped off the track.
Local media reports said the train remained in the same spot for six hours in snowy weather with 130 passengers stranded inside.
East Japan Railway Co, which operates the line, said on its website that bullet train services in the area had been suspended.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/04/world/asia/japan-snow-deaths/
Thanks to R. de Haan and Argiris Diamantis for these links
