The death toll from a severe winter snow storm gripping much of Japan has risen to 11, according to local media and officials.
Northern and central parts of Japan have been lashed by strong winds that have dumped huge quantities of snow over the last few days.
The bad weather, which has disrupted travel and cut off isolated communities, is forecast to continue.
The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said 11 people were known to have died, including a 79-year-old man and a firefighter, 29, who fell into ditches while clearing snow.
Several others, mainly elderly people, have been killed on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido and in regions near the Sea of Japan (East Sea) in mainland Honshu, reports and officials have said.
There have also been deaths on the roads, with hazardous driving conditions provoking hundreds of accidents that have left people injured nationwide.
Public transport networks have also been hit, with several hundred flights grounded, most of them domestic, and bullet trains suffering delays.
