Commentary by Hank F. Miller Jr.
The rainy season or monsoon season sets in around the end of May and lasts till about the end of July and sometimes even longer in most regions of the Japanese Archipelago.
The meeting of a high cold atmospheric pressure front over the sea of Okhotsk and a warm high atmospheric pressure front over the Pacific Ocean gives rise to this phenomenon. Because it is the time when Ume or Japanese plums ripen, the season is called baiu or tsuyu (\”ume rain\”).
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 the extremely high humidity of the season, mean that this is a very uncomfortable and gloomy period for almost everyone.
It does not, however, necessarily follow that to have the 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 is a natural blessing to them.
In fact we have rain predicted for the next three days starting tomorrow.
So I suppose the monsoon season is upon us here on Kyushu Island.
We also at this time of the year are well into typhoon season, and thus we\’ve already had typhoon number 4# pass by this past week skirting Kitakyushu City and dumping quite a lot of rain on us and we got some wind that all.
Saying all that today is a very beautiful and bright day. The typhoon went along the coast of Japan in the Pacific Ocean and on into Hokkaido.
I\’ll give you more information on typhoons at a later date and as they occur here in and around Kyushu Island where I live.
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Warm Regards from Warm, Sunny and Beautiful, Kitakyushu City, Japan,
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Hank F. Miller Jr.
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