Weather officials in Japan warned that there will be more heavy snow this weekend, mainly in the mountainous areas of Hokkaido, Hokuriku and Kanto-Koshin regions.
The record snowfall this week in Niigata and neighbouring Gunma was brought by a strong cold air mass.
More than 2,000 vehicles were stranded for many hours on an expressway.
Snowfall is expected to intensify in some areas on Sunday.
About 100 centimetres of snowfall is expected in Niigata, 80 centimetres in the Kanto-Koshin region, 70 centimetres in Nagano, 60 centimetres in Tohoku, 50 centimetres in the Hokuriku region and 40 centimetres in Hokkaido through Sunday morning.
This is expected to then increase through Monday morning.
