Japan has been grappling with continuous heavy snowfall in recent days, with Niigata Prefecture, located along the Sea of Japan in the Chubu region, bearing the brunt of the storm.
The extreme weather has caused severe damage to homes and disrupted the daily lives of local residents.
Aga Town, situated in the eastern part of Niigata Prefecture, has been one of the hardest-hit areas. After several days of relentless snowfall, many houses have collapsed, and the town's residents are facing significant challenges in their daily routines.
"I haven't seen such heavy snow in recent years. This is truly a blizzard, without a doubt. I'm 76 years old now, and in the past, I've seen heavy snow before, but this amount of snow is beyond what we can handle," a local resident said in an interview with China Central Television.
The village where the 76-year-old man lives has a predominantly elderly population. In the area, the snow has accumulated to more than 3 meters, with some houses completely buried. For the elderly residents, clearing the snow has become an increasingly daunting and dangerous task.
"More than half of the people here are over 55 years old. People my age can still use machines to clear the snow, and I've done some snow removal myself today. But for those who can't, it's very hard. Many people just can't do it," the elderly man explained.
Weather forecasts indicate that a new cold front is expected to strike northern Japan after Monday, with another round of heavy snowfall likely to spread across a wider area. Local residents fear that the ongoing snow storm will pose even greater challenges.
Heavy snowfall blankets parts of Japan's Niigata Prefecture, collapsing many houses
Heavy snowfall blankets parts of Japan's Niigata Prefecture, collapsing many houses
Chinese President Xi Jinping's New Year message delivered on the New Year Eve has drawn positive responses from scholars and former officials from several countries, who say that the series of global initiatives proposed by Xi have provided fresh momentum for multilateralism and shared development at a time of growing uncertainty.
While the reactions touched on the broader vision outlined in Xi's New Year message, they also focused on the initiatives Xi has put forward over recent years, particularly the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and the newly proposed Global Governance Initiative.
Highlighting the significant importance of these initiatives, they have emphasized the need for equality, inclusiveness and a fairer international order.
"We need a more just international order and a truly multilateral system. China stands almost alone today as a global force actively advancing genuine multilateralism. Therefore, these initiatives are most welcome," said Michael Schumann, chairman of the German Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade.
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab has placed the emphasis on dialogue and trust-building between civilizations.
"It is essential now more than ever to promote communication and understanding between China and the world to enhance cultural exchanges and build mutual trust. As President Xi has repeatedly emphasized, China supports principles of unity, inclusiveness and peacefulness. These values should guide our collective efforts to build bridges rather than walls," he said.
From a governance perspective, Russian scholar Ekaterina Zaklyazminskaya, head of the Center for World Politics and Strategic Analysis at the Institute of China and Modern Asia under the Russian Academy of Sciences, has viewed the Global Governance Initiative as a structured response to global challenges.
"The recently proposed Global Governance Initiative presents a comprehensive framework of ideas. It prioritizes establishing a more just international order, champions multilateralism, and upholds the principle of 'people first.' Through its concrete practices, financial assistance, and tangible support for multilateral bodies like the U.N., China has demonstrated that its commitments are substantive. China is taking tangible steps toward a fairer and more reasonable global governance system," she said.
Scholars from the Global South also have seen historical echoes in the initiatives.
"Some of the developed and developing countries have highly welcomed the Global Development Initiative, because this initiative emphasizes the need for partnerships -- partnerships that commit resources to end global poverty and pursue common and shared development. The Global Governance Initiative, in my view, echoes again the call that was made by Asian [and] African countries at the Bandung Conference in 1955 for equality, for mutual respect, for respect of territorial integrity, [and] for respect of sovereignty," said Bongani Maimele, director of international relations at South Africa's National School of Government.
"These initiatives are revolutionary in nature. They are reshaping the political philosophy of global governance. Today's world is far more complex than it was 80 years ago, and interdependence among nations has deepened. Therefore, we need new philosophical perspectives to examine our world and new models of engagement to foster a new type of international relations," said Sheradil Baktygulov, director of Kyrgyzstan's Institute of World Policy.
Int'l scholars praise Xi's initiatives, call for stronger multilateralism
