This morning may be wet and not particularly nice down in the village, there is some good news to tell you.

There hasn't been any fresh snow and with the existing snow getting less in Mitsumata, there's now a bit of walking involved between ski lifts.

I have no fresh snow to report as we enter this important week.

There's not a whole lot to report at the moment as we continue to wait.

We had rain overnight in town, heavy at times, and it looks like there might have been some more snow higher up.

Two ski areas in Shiga Kogen are now open.

We have had some fresh snow overnight - up to 20cm of it up top.

End of the penultimate week of November up here (not a word I use that often), and your writer was away during this week as the first snowfall arrived at the base level, bringing about 35cm of wet snow.

It's a beauty of a morning, too, with clear blue skies and much milder conditions.

Lots of fresh snowfall since yesterday, indeed another 30cm or so... and up to 50cm being reported from mountain top areas.