Rainy Season: A wet interlude

梅雨雲の

うぐひす鳴けり

こゑひそか

Bayugumo no – In the rainy season clouds
Uguisu Nakeri – The nightingale chirps
Kowe Hisoka – Hidden somewhere
Mizuhara Shūōshi

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), 49th Station: Tsuchiyama, from the series: The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō, 1833–1844.

Japanese rainy season (tsuyu 梅雨) comes between spring and summer and usually lasts for 2 or 3 weeks. The precipitations cover all the spectrum from drizzles to torrential rain. It is caused by hot and cold air masses colliding with each other every year over Japan. Rains comes first into Okinawa, between May and June, and moves upwards progressively until it reaches northern Tōhoku in late July. During rainy season temperatures are still mild, but humidity ratios skyrocket and by consequence the weather can feel pretty heavy. At this time people tend to prefer refreshing dishes that restore the water they lost during the day.

Recently, due to the climatic changes, rainy seasons have become harsher and cause significant damage every year. In 2018 the prefectures of Saga, Fukuoka and Hiroshima were severely hit by torrential rains, from which they have still not fully recovered. In 2020 heavy rains caused massive landslides in the prefecture of Kumamoto and the central and south parts of Kyūshū.

Heavy rainfalls are becoming a tragic rendez-vous in the southerns regions of Japan. What is seen in the video are the consequences of 2020 floodings.

©The Guardian

Written by Marty Borsotti