Typhoon #12

So far typhoon #12 has caused 17 deaths, 54 people are missing and thousands are evacuated after heavy floods. Most of the deaths are  from the heavy rains — drownings and people getting caught in mudslides. There's more heavy rain projected, so it's likely the total damage will continue to increase. We have been fortunate that the typhoon veered off and crossed southern Honshu well west of Osaka.

It's easy to overlook typhoons — they are "only" weather after all — but the reality is that typhoons are a greater danger than earthquakes, even in earthquake-prone Japan. The potential destructive power of a single event is much greater for earthquakes of course, but typhoons are much more common.

If you live in a typhoon (or hurricane) prone area, it's a really, really good idea to look over your preparedness. It's also a good idea to keep typhoons in mind when you choose a place to live, and avoid the riskiest areas near steep hillsides and riverbanks. A mountain-side home may be very picturesque, but it's not very safe if that mountainside decides to turn into a landslide.

Tsuyu

Tsuyu - the rainy season - has arrived in Kansai. It's early; it normally starts around the second week of June. Also, Okinawa is expecting its first typhoon of the season already, and it may even reach Honshu in a few days. While typhoon season typically starts around now, it's rare for the early typhoons to be strong enough to hit Japan directly.

The weather service has predicted a hotter summer than normal; let's just hope it won't be as bad as last year. Much of the country is going to have energy supply problems already, and a heatwave will make the problem worse. Of course, it would give us an excuse to go snorkelling...

Snow

Ritsuko woke me up at dawn, telling me it's snowing - not a few pathetic flakes, but a real snowfall that lasted all morning. It was dense enough to cover the ground even as it was melting away. By lunchtime the fall had stopped, but while the streets quickly cleared there's still some left on rooftops, tree branches and balconies. The weather service says we may get another round of snow tomorrow.

I know this is not much; lots of places get many times this every winter. But it is truly rare to see snow like this in Osaka city - I believe this is only the second time I've seen it since coming here.

Narrow, crowded sidewalk; slippery, wet surface and a snowfall to cut visibility - what could be better than throw up a large umbrella right in front of your face and steer your bicycle through the slush with only one hand?

Just a little wet snow, but the streets immediately become so much more beautiful and inviting.

A planter and a sign outside a restaurant covered in white stuff.

People aren't terribly well prepared for this kind of weather. This boy seems to have neither the clothing nor the skills to navigate the suddenly snow-covered streets.

Blessed Cool

The heatwave is finally breaking. Temperatures have dropped from around 38° down to a breezy 33°. Of course, the reason for the drop is an approaching typhoon; if that's what it takes then I'm not going to complain. With any luck the weather will stay cooler after it passes. Autumn really is overdue already.

The peak temperatures haven't actually been that high this year - not a single day over 40° - but the length of this heatwave has been extraordinary. In a typical year you have peaks in the high 30's or even 40's in August but the average is normally around 28-33°. This year the daily temperature has remained at 36-39° for months, and it's continued well into September. Peak temperature records are untouched (except in Hokkaido), but average temperatures have broken almost every record around.

Now, perhaps, we have a chance of reviving the plants on our balcony. Some dark, cosy, dramatic autumn weather will be a nice change of pace after nothing but glaring sunshine. And soon it'll be cool enough to start making winter foods again. I can't wait.

Hot

I completely forgot about it while in Paris, but Japan is in the middle of a heatwave. It's hot. Too hot. It's the hottest summer in Japan since the second world war. Paris - cool, chilly, wonderfully rainy Paris - was a welcome break, but now we're back baking in the late summer heat.

We have 38° or so, dropping to a cool 30° in the middle of the night. The weekly average is about 5° hotter than last year, and the forecast says it's going to get worse toward the end of the week. Companies are still running summer commercials on TV and some beer gardens - that normally close at the end of August - have announced they will extend the season into mid-September.

When I come home I'm hot, sweaty and tired. A cold shower cools me down and perks me up. But our "cold" tap water is 31° by now and a cold shower has become but a fond memory.

Half our plants have wilted in the heat. The morning train smells of Eau De Salaryman. If the heat wasn't enough to make you sweat, the electricity bill from round-the-clock air conditioning will do the trick just nicely.

I'm quite done with summer now. Autumn should come any time. Any time now. Aaany time. Please.

High Summer

The rainy season - tsuyu - is over, with a drawn-out, if not very impressive, thunderstorm on Friday. We're getting into high summer now; it was 34 degrees yesterday, and as I write this it's already 35 degrees today. I kind of prefer tsuyu over high summer myself - it's a bit cooler and if I'm getting soaked in any case I prefer rainwater over sweat. Besides, there's no typhoons and no locusts during tsuyu, another bonus. As it is, we'll jsut have to suffer through it.

Will I annoy everyone with complaints about the heat all the way to mid-October? You bet I am. Will I be just as irritating next year? Count on it. If there's one thing I really don't like about living here, this is it.

JR Osaka station. First day of high summer, and it's getting hot.

November

It's the morning of November 1st. And outside it is, at this moment, 24 degrees.

Current value and today's curve in red, yesterday in orange. one-week averages for this week and this week last year in blue.

The winter may be wet and miserable in Osaka, but at least it's never long. This kind of summer-like weather in November is pretty rare even here though. Better go out and make use of it while we can. Of course, right now "go out and make use of it" for me mainly means reading papers in a café rather than at home, but at least it's something.

Tsuyu is Over

Tsuyu, the rainy season, is finally over. The meteorological agency has declared it over in the Kinki region from yesterday, 15 days later than usual. And there was much rejoicing... I think.

We'd already guessed it'd be over about now. The air turned perceptively drier on Monday and the temperature climbed from around 30 last week to 35 degrees. According to the agency, we should expect a cooler August than usual; by "cooler" they of course mean "Still too damn hot to leave the comfort of an air conditioner if I can at all help it". It may not creep up to 40 this year, but peak daytime of 35 is still plenty enough thank you very much.

At least we'll be able to dry our umeboshi during Obon next week; we were starting to worry about that.

Tsyu Days Are Here Again

Tsuyu - the summer rainy season - has been declared by the meteorological agency; looking out the window at the dripping wet world outside it's not exactly a major surprise. This is a mixed blessing. On one hand, it does keep the temperature down, with highs normally below 30° even on sunny days. On the other hand, it's wet. Everything is wet. Rainy days are worst, of course, and there's a lot of them right now. Osaka gets over 200mm of rain in June; not a huge amount by south Asian standards, but by comparison Stockholm gets less than 70mm during its wettest month of August.

Rainy day, Nishitanabe, Osaka. Not a great picture, but I'm in no mood to go out and take a better one - it's wet and miserable out there.

It's not the water, though, it's the humidity that gets to you. Everything gets damp. During cool nights you end up feeling clammy and miserable - you're hot and freezing at the same time. Mildew and fungus thrive in this weather (real fun cleaning the bath this time of year), and food poisoning becomes a real risk so you have to be careful with your produce and ingredients.

On the other hand, it's plum season. Now is the time to buy (or pick, if you have a tree) the barely ripe green plums and pickle in brine for umeboshi, or put in jars of alcohol for umeshu. We'll try to make hachimitsu (honey) umeboshi this year in addition to the normal stuff. The vodka and rum umeshu we made last year are so-so; the vodka is good but needs a bit more time to ripen. We probably should have used better quality rum, as that variety has very little actual rum flavour left. This year we'll try to make brandy umeshu and see how that goes.

Typhoon Season

Typhoon #1 and #2
Click for JMA info

The Golden Week holiday marks the end of early summer, and true to form we now have the season's first two typhoons emerging in south Asia. #1 is south of the Japanese islands, and #2 is southeast of Vietnam. Neither is going to make landfall here (one will stay in the south, one will pass by far east of Honshu), but it means the early summer is ending and the rainy season is coming up.

Last year we didn't have a single typhoon hit this area. It's unusual but not unheard of. We're not likely to be as lucky again this year I think. Fortunately we live in a major city so we could live and work here more or less indefinitely without ever having to actually go outside.