I have been wondering about this for a while now. Most information I’ve found online suggests they don’t – pictures where roads and parking lots still have a thin layer of snow on them, old(er) cars being nowhere near as rusty as in Europe and North America (mostly just surface rust)…
However, I also found some articles where they mention that they indeed do use salt in the winter.
The answer probably isn’t straightforward but still, I’d really like to know what the situation exactly is.
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/yetis6/does_japan_use_salt_for_deicing_roads_in_winter/
8 comments
Just straight salt? No.
When I travelled in mountainous areas of Japan before COVID, in Nagano area to be exact, I saw those cabinets with salt bags on side of roads. For de-icing probably.
Some places use water sprinklers to melt the snow before it turns to ice. I’m not sure if they use salt though.
I don’t think they do, except on very specific locations such as bridges and tunnels. Most of the times I have seen mechanical snow removal but not salt sprinkling.
Yes.
I live Tohoku and I haven’t seen any roads being salted (in Sendai at least). They do do some de-icing on expressways though
So… Im pretty well versed in this because of some friends occupations. BUT…
no they dont use salt, they do however use a brine mixture in some prefectures( its like ten times worst for causing rust) since its cheaper.
Other than that, sand laying is pretty common and thats what youll find on the side of the road in those boxes.
That being said, its not usually accompanied with actual snow removal so it just becomes a slippery mess of snow that wont compact together
Dunno why there are people on here saying “no”. Expressways in Japan definitely use salt (sodium chloride). Nexco (organization that maintains said expressways) even have webpages showing what sort of machinery they use to do it.
As for local roads and in towns, it depends.