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Hokkaido Storm Strains Services as Sapporo EMS Admits Dispatch Error, Two Dead in Separate Incidents

Severe weather complicated emergency operations across Hokkaido.

Overview

  • Officials said an ambulance was sent to the wrong location, delaying arrival by about three minutes for a woman in her 80s who was transported in cardiopulmonary arrest and later confirmed dead, with no causal link to the delay determined.
  • Blizzard conditions left thousands of households without power and forced widespread train and flight cancellations across Hokkaido, according to local reports and agency updates.
  • A 20-year-old man, Yuta Kitani, died after a kei car and a truck collided on a national road in Fukagawa early Dec. 15, and a Dec. 14 house fire in Chitose killed one man.
  • The Sapporo District Public Prosecutors Office decided on Nov. 11 not to indict the president and an executive of construction firm Hanai-gumi over an alleged workplace assault, citing the overall evidence.
  • The national government is moving to remove the premium purchase support for new large-scale solar projects starting in fiscal 2027, according to media reports citing government sources.