Summer Heat

Although it's been warm lately with only one "hot" day (83°F), today, for some reason, I started thinking about summer while teaching class. Perhaps it was the sweat in my hair from climbing all the stairs (9 floors up to my classroom)...

Many people have asked me about summer in Japan. Like most places in the summer time (excluding Alaska and northern Russia and such), it's hot. Just how hot is it? When does the heat begin? I thought it might be nice to describe a typical Japanese summer for everyone.

Typically, summer begins in Japan after the rainy season (梅雨　"tsuyu"). Usually, from what I've seen in my two years here, this is around the middle to end of July. Rainy season in Japan is not like monsoon season or non-stop pouring rain. Rather, it is usually grey and rains about half the time. Tsuyu is caused by the warm southeast Asian air pushing its way up to Japan. Because the warm air and the cold air meet as this air mass moves north, it often causes rain. I haven't seen a rainy season with pouring rain yet, but I do know this is the point that the humidity parks itself in Japan for a 4 month stay.

So, after the rainy season, the hot southeast Asian air is here to stay from July until about the end of September. The temperature during this time is usually a steady 90-95°F and sunny. During the nights, temperatures never fall below 80°F. This isn't too bad in and of itself. However, Japan is also extremely humid and I've been told Ishikawa is one of the most humid places in Japan. On any given day, the dew point is usually around 78°F and sometimes as high as 82°F. This essentially turns Kanazawa into a sauna. I've seen heat indexes here top 110°F. In my home state of Vermont, this kind of weather would prompt an emergency of some sorts and you wouldn't see any people outside until the temperature fell back into the normal range of 75-80°F.

So what does one do in this heat? How do people survive? The answer to that is easy. You get used to it. From last year, I tried not to use my air conditioner too much. One reason is it's really expensive. Based on your own electricity rates, do the math on this: run an air conditioner for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 31 days a month. It adds up QUICKLY. The other thing I noticed my first year here is that if you use the air conditioner all the time, it makes it much harder to go outside. If you stay parked inside an air conditioned room kept at 75°F all day long, going outside to temperatures that feel like 110°F can seem like stepping onto the sands of the Sahara. Japanese people are pretty good with the heat as they continue to do most of their normal activities: tennis, jogging, bike riding, etc. When in Rome do as the Romans do I guess....

Usually at the end of September, the temperature starts falling quickly, the humidity breaks and the cooler air for fall and winter move back into Japan.

I suppose that's enough for today...I've got a meeting soon (I despise meetings even though I learn so much from them)

またね、皆