Snow Country, Japan

This scene is an original illustration set in Snow Country, Japan. It lies in mid-latitudes, where the climate is humid subtropical — hot summers, no dry season.

A row of two- and three-storey dark timber inns lines a narrow street, their paper-covered windows glowing. Snow more than a metre thick sits on every roof and eave. Steam drifts from a vent at street level, and the walls are boarded high against drifts. The winter light is clear and low.

Why are the roofs built this steep in snow country?

Snow load of that depth forces the whole design: strong post-and-beam frames, steep planned roof-clearing, boarding to protect the lower walls from packed drift. It falls here because cold air crossing a warm sea picks up moisture and dumps it against the first mountains it meets. The steam is the second half of the story — this depth of snow and this much geothermal water go together in volcanic ranges.

Terpano is a free daily geography puzzle. You study one original illustration, place a pin on a borderless terrain map, and see how close you were. There is no account and no sign-up; progress stays in your own browser. It plays in 11 languages.