Pedestrians in Niigata, Japan battle with gale force winds.
Wide swathes of northern and central Japan were thrown into chaos on Thursday after strong winds blew through, whipped up by a low pressure weather system.
So far no-one has been injured, but some roofs were blown off and power lines cut in the storm.
Many railway, ferry and airlines services were cancelled.
With wind gusts gathering speeds of over 130 kilometres per hour, the Japanese Meteorological Agency warned that snowfall in the mountainous regions may result in blizzard conditions later in the day.
