CNBNews

When East Meets West

Commentary by Hank F. Miller Jr. 

A seasonal rain front swept through Okinawa in late May, marking the beginning of Japan's rainy season.

Well today is the first day of rainy season in Kitakyushu City, our home town with very light rain forecast for today with very heavy down pours forecast for tomorrow.The rainy season in our region of the Japanese archipelago will continue till about the end of July. The meeting of a high cold atmospheric pressure front over the Sea of Okhotsk and a warm high atmospheric pressure front over the Pacific forms and the tsuyu or monsoons have arrived.

During tsuyu, rain falls on and off for a couple of weeks, or sometimes it continues to rain for days on end. The grey skies, together with a very high humidity of the season, mean that this is a very gloomy period for most people.

It does not, however, necessarily follow that to have rainy season is all bad, because at this time of year, farmers, with all the rain it brings, plant rice, and the rice paddies need a good  deal of water. Tsuyu or monsoon season is a natural blessing to them. And also to the gardeners like myself, because in the Miller garden we have many trees, bushes and shrubs as well as flowers and thery all need plenty of water.

But the weeds are overwhelming and thus must be attended to sometimes even during sudden downpours. Along with the rainy season from this month arrives typhoon season which will start next week and will last until the middle of October. So besides spring, summer, autumn and winter so we also have the two seasons in which I do not look forward to each year monsoon season and typhoon season.

Warm Regards from muggy, humid and most uncomfortable Kitakyushu City, Japan

Hank F. Miller Jr. 

Category When East Meets West