2004/06/11
Glimpses of Japan vol.8（外国人から見た日本）
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Glimpses of Japan （アメリカ人から見た日本）
vol.8 "Rainy Season"
2004.6.11
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It looks as if the rainy season has begun in the Tokyo area. Although
in recent years the weather patterns have sometimes been different from
the traditional ones, this year the rainy season seems to have arrived
on time. It's my least favorite season, but at least it has reminded
me of a few things, and thus given me something to write about.
I've often been amused by the number of times that Japanese acquaintances
have tried to impress me with how "unique" Japan or the Japanese people
are, in one way or another. I have been told at various times that
Japanese brains, intestines, snow, rice, and soil are unique, among many
others. I have been asked for lists of "unique Japanese English mistakes",
and have been told quite seriously that Japanese are unique in the trouble
they have learning foreign languages. An acquaintance once even told me
that Japanese hands are uniquely adapted "by evolution" for holding
chopsticks; he had trouble understanding why I'm more adept at using them
than he is.
I don't usually go to the trouble of trying to correct these various myths,
since those who want to believe them aren't going to do the research I'd
recommend, anyway. The advent of the rainy season, though, always reminds
me of someone I met shortly after arriving here. She said, with utter
conviction, "Japan is unique because it has four seasons". I was astounded.
Not only does a large part of the world have four distinct seasons, just
as most of Japan does, but to me it seems that the area of the Kanto Plains
around Tokyo (the area with which I'm most familiar) really has five seasons:
Spring, Rainy, Summer, Fall, and Winter. The pleasant, breezy, Spring is
short and soon turns into the increasingly hot and Rainy Season, followed
by the infernally hot and humid Summer, the cooling (and often typhoon
filled) Fall, then cold, dry Winter. I'm aware that the rainy season
overlaps the end of Spring and the beginning of Summer, depending on how
you define the terms, but it certainly seems like five distinct seasons
to me. And the Rainy Season is the one I like least.
I don't mind rain so much, although it makes riding a motorcycle uncomfortable
and a little dangerous. It's the inconvenience of being unable to hang
laundry out to dry, of having to battle mildew constantly, and of having
to be extra careful with food storage that bothers me. I'm not fond of
riding trains packed with other damp people, shivering in the air conditioning,
dreading the shock of a return to muggy reality on the platform, either.
The only thing I can think of that I actually like about the rainy season
is hydrangeas. Maybe next time I'll write about how hydrangeas, besides
being pretty flowers, once probably saved my life.
On the other hand, if any of you readers sends me a request for a topic,
I could write about that, instead.
-- Mike Lloret
Glimpses of Japan vol.8
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