Snow country (Japan) Snow country (Japan) Snow country (雪国 "yukiguni"; also, more prosaically, 豪雪地帯 "gōsetsu chitai" ["heavy snow area"]) refers to areas in Japan characterized by heavy, long-lasting snowfalls. The rather poetic can refer to any place with heavy or deep snows and is generally understood as a reference to the Sea of Japan side of Honshū (Japan's main island) and the area encompassed by the Japanese Alps, a series of mountain ranges that make up the island's backbone. In its broadest meaning, "snow country" means the belt along the Sea of Japan from Yamaguchi (in particular, Shimane) in the south to Honshū's
Christmas Island Seamount Province Christmas Island Seamount Province The Christmas Island Seamount Province (also known as the Christmas Island Seamounts) is an unusual seamount (submarine volcano) formation named for Christmas Island, an Australian territory and wildlife reserve that is also part of the chain. The province consists of more than 50 seamounts, up to in height, within a area. Unlike most seamount groups, the Christmas Island seamount formation does not form a long hotspot-based chain of increasingly older volcanoes, instead being a scattered grouping of volcanoes within a large radius. The origins of the formation have long been enigmatic for scientists; the Christmas Island