Yes, it snowed briefly our area of Tokyo yesterday; the cold is finally here.
And so is the ski season: Gala Yuzawa ^[1] is already open, with depth of 180cm, according to Snow Japan ^[2].
^[3]
Hopefully this could be a good year; quotes from Snow Japan:

I have lived in this region for 15 years now, and I can’t remember there being so much snowfall in one go before New Year. This is a really good start to the season.

It goes without saying of course that when the clouds eventually clear up, it is going to be epic conditions all round. This is like no other mid-December in recent times.