In winter, many parts of Japan accumulate massive amounts of snow. While the snow generates significant challenges in daily life, roads, railways, and airports generally keep functioning. This time on Japanology Plus our theme is snow removal. We see ways to tackle the snow and keep everyday life running smoothly throughout the winter. Our guest is Natsuo Numano, who has studied and written about snow-related matters. And in Plus One, safe ways to get snow off a roof.

Bjorn Heiberg is a connoisseur of the cutting edge of Japanese knives. Japanese swords are famous around the world for their unrivaled quality. These days, smiths use the same techniques that were perfected for sword-making to craft top-quality knives. Heiberg is not a knife maker himself. Rather, he owns cutlery stores where he sells the finest knives made by the most skilled smiths. Many of these smiths can be found in Sakai, Osaka, one of the centers of the Japanese knife-making tradition.