Living in Japan,

Weather and Climate

The Japanese love their seasons. You can see it in their poetry (haiku, 17-sylla-ble poems, reąuire at least one season word), in their letters (any good Ietter includes a reference to the weather), in their business suits (the switch froni winter suit to summer suit days and back is synchronized with the seasons), and in their language (there are many words to describe the four seasons).

Whenever the Japanese list the seasons. they start with spring.

Spring (March, April, May)

Spring can be summed up in one word — sakwa (f£) or cherry blossoms. Nationwide news programs announce the northward-moving “cherry blossom front" as the country wanns from end of March to end of April. When it reaches your town. you take ground cloths, drinks, food. and friends to the park and make merry under the cherry blossoms.

It becomes chilly and cloudy during the cherry blossom season, called hanagumori (TEft •)), but May brings tine. wann days.

Summer (June, July, August)

Here‘s the weather forecast for almost every day in June and July — rain. The season is referred to as baiu or tsuyu (łS Rft). You tliink it will never stop.

When it does stop. be ready for the heat. From the end of July through August, temperatures rangę between 30 and 35 C — hot. But add nearly 100 per-cent humidity and it feels like you're swimming in soup. A lot of the major festivals are in the summer evenings when the heat is much morę bearable. Women freąuently wear casual yukata kimono in the evenings and businessmen set to take off their suit coats. Zansho (F* #) is a word describing the heat of late summer.