World Scene: Japan

Little snow brings joy to golfers

A warm winter with scant snow is bad news for skiers, but Japan's avid golfers got a rare chance to hit the links in snow country over the New Year break.

"This is the first time in 14 years for us to open our golf courses during the New Year holidays," said an official at Yoneyamasuigen Country Club in Joetsu, northwestern Japan. "Usually our links are covered with 20 to 30 centimeters of snow and closed from around December 10 to the end of February."