Late snow disrupts Tokyo

Children in Tokyo might be enjoying themselves, but this unusually late snowfall has caught the Japanese capital off guard.

Flurries up to two centimetres thick in downtown and about double that in western parts of the city wreaked havoc with the transport system.

Some trains were delayed up to 90 minutes, stranding thousands of commuters, while much of the highway system and many bridges were shut down.

(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) UNIDENTIFIED TOKYO RESIDENT TAKAMITSU SAITO, SAYING:

"It's incredible. We don't normally get this amount of snow in Tokyo. It's a bit scary actually."

A Japanese broadcaster reported that by lunchtime, more than 100 people had been injured from slipping on wet snow or ice.

Snow usually falls in Tokyo during December or January.

Nick Rowlands, Reuters.