I just googled Kanazawa and it happens to be snowing there right now. I was curious about the latitude and it looks to be at about the same latitude as the SF Bay area where it rarely snows. And it's right on the coast as well. Is snow more common on the west coast of Japan than on the east coast due to the Japanese current which passes on the east?
east west distinction does make as much sense in Japan since the main island runs at a sort of diagonal but from my experience, in the northern half, the west is snowier. the islands as a whole are immensely wetter than California.
