Magic Streets Nozawa Onsen
Nozawa has many magical little streets and laneways to explore and each one can lead you somewhere interesting like to a Shrine, a little restaurant, an Onsen or even a ski run. Many people often ask me how do they keep the roads of Nozawa clear of snow? A very good question.
It is no secret that Nozawa Onsen gets a lot of snow. Often over 14 meters in a season and we can have nights where the Snow Gods will dump up to 100cm in an amazing Siberian Storm. All this snow can make it very tricky to get around Nozawa on our little streets. To be honest you can walk everywhere in Nozawa so best to leave your car at home and take a train or bus to Nozawa. The public transport is great and digging out your car under a meter of fresh snow is not so great.
Check out a report from one of those big days 100cm Dump Nozawa Onsen
Magic Streets Nozawa Onsen – How do they heat the roads?
When the snow is falling at normal rates you will often see that it is not gathering on many of the main roads in Nozawa. Â That’s because we have road heating installed under the surface of these streets. A series of heated coils that zig zag across the roads and are heated so that when the snow hits it melts and makes it possible to pass. The heat source comes from some big heating systems centrally located in the village that turn on when the snow is heavy. They are powered mainly by kerosene boilers but some onsen water is used via a heat exchange. We hope that more of that technology is used in the future.
The cost of running the system is shared amongst the local inhabitants and is based on how wide your street frontage is. The more it snows the more it can cost. But if we didn’t do it Nozawa’s little streets would become gridlocked. Like they did in the past
Clearing the roads can be a big job in Nozawa Clearing roads Nozawa
Magic Streets Nozawa Onsen
Installing the heating system is also a big job. The Council is currently digging up the road that runs up to the Gondola and putting more of the heating coils in. That road was particularly slippery and would often see cars with Tokyo Number plates sliding down it on a Saturday morning. So it will be a welcome addition and good timing with the new Gondola launch this season.
