I contributed a report to Seppyo (Vol. 86, No. 1), the journal of the Japanese Society of Snow and Ice, titled “An Introduction to the Community-Based Snow Removal Organization ‘Kurokura Sukettai’ in Tokamachi City, Niigata.”
The paper examines how snow removal is organized and sustained in Matsunoyama, a mountainous region of Tokamachi City known as one of the heaviest snowfall areas in Japan. This area consists of small, sparsely populated settlements typical of Japan’s chūsan-kan (mountainous and hilly) rural regions, where maintaining daily life during winter requires collective effort.
As Japan’s population ages, many rural settlements have experienced a decline in the number of residents able to manage snow removal around homes and local roads. While major roads are cleared by municipal services, the smaller residential roads within each settlement remain the responsibility of the community. In some mountain hamlets, road-heating systems—where water is piped beneath the pavement—are not installed, making manual and machine-based snow removal an essential part of winter life.
In response to these challenges, the Kurokura settlement established the Kurokura Sukettai, a community-based mutual aid organization in which residents collaborate to operate snow-removal machinery and maintain access routes throughout the winter. While living in Matsunoyama, I participated in this organization and observed not only the practical aspects of daily snow removal, but also the group’s internal operations, including machine management, accounting, task-sharing, and local decision-making. Through this experience, I was able to document how small settlements in heavy-snow regions organize themselves to maintain their living environment and sustain community functions.
The full report is available on the website of the Japanese Society of Snow and Ice (only japanese):
https://www.seppyo.org/publication/seppyo/seppyo_archives/86_2024/86_01_2024/attachment/86-1_023/
