Rainy season

The rainy season officially begins the first week of June. It's called tsuyu in Japanese, which means literally "ume rain." Ume is a Japanese plum that ripens during the season. Basically, the rains are caused by moist Pacific air moving along the coast of Asia, repelled from land by a cooler continental air mass. Suspended along the coast, the moist air drops its rain along Japan, Taiwan, and eastern China. Eventually, the continental mass warms and the Pacific mass strengthens enough to push its way onto the continent, thus ending the rainy season. That ends the rainy season in Japan around the beginning to middle of July.

Sure enough, since June 8, it's been raining about five days out of the week. The other two are usually overcast, with the occasional outbreak of sunlight. The rains can be torrential, but usually they're just dreary, day-long showers. For the first time, I've actually needed my car to get to my main high school: I've tried making the the walk in the rain, and my pants and shoes get drenched. It's not the discomfort that bothers me. Rather, it's the mildew that comes along with this season. Non-stop rain and days without sunshine combine to create a breeding ground for mold and mildew. I don't have an electric dryer--I have to line-dry everything--so those pants and socks that get drenched from the walk will take 3-4 days to dry.

Suffice it to say, I've learned to be opportunistic with my laundry days. Lately, if it's sunny, I do laundry, even if the last sunny (and, therefore, laundry) day was just two days before.

The rainy season in Japan officially begins the first week of June and usually runs through the middle of July.