Monday, Feb. 19 2007
The weather
There are three things that are worth sharing here about Japan and the weather. There might be other things, but for now, all I know about are: umbrellas, seasons and sakura. Whether it rains or snows here, people use their umbrella. It almost seems bad luck or weird not to have an umbrella while it precipitates. I remember while I was in Kyoto and it was snowing, everyone had their umbrellas out. This would never happen in Montreal, where it snows a lot more! The funniest sight is when people are riding their bikes with their umbrellas! Some even have gadgets to fix the umbrella on the handles of the bicycle.
The second is season change. There is no set date for season changes it seems. In Canada every September 22nd marks the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Here they announce on TV when it is the official season change. Around the end of winter, not until they announce that it is the end of winter do people start wearing lighter clothing, no matter how hot it can be on a particular day!
The third is Sakura, or the cherry blossoms. This mostly happens in March, but varies depending of the part of Japan. This is one big event in Japan, everyone goes to the temples, shrines and parks to see the sight of the pink flowers that last for a very short time, maybe two days. During Sakura, there are forecasts of the developments and the best spots to see the phenomena. Every year Japanese people take the photos of the same trees and flowers and drink sake and go on spurs of romantic poetry during those few days. I have not decided yet where I would see Sakura, but most probably in Kyoto.
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