It does happen in Japan - 10....

Weather - A welcoming feature....

One major aspect from a lot of the welcoming features of Japan is Weather. Anybody would love Japan for its weather (except those men who love +55 ⁰ C & -20⁰ C). Especially, people like me, who hail from places like Gurgaon & Chennai which burn you bare for about 4 months with scorching heat, drench you wet for about 2 months with intense rains, would love every bit of Japan’s weather. In a nutshell, Japan is a country with moderate weather. This is how the Japanese term it. But, this is not exactly how it is. I would say, it is more inclined towards chill weather, may be because I am basically from a hot country. Ok. First things first.

Though Japan is a small country in terms of area, climate in Japan varies widely. Since Japan stretches approximately 20⁰ of latitude, from 25⁰N to 45⁰N, and approximately 23⁰ of longitude, from 122⁰E to 145⁰E (this is too much of geography !!), climate varies widely between regions. The climate is moderate towards the south of Japan and is chilly towards the north. To my fortune, Hamamatsu is in the south of Japan and hence things have become even more relaxed.

Basically, Japan experiences summer from June till August, autumn from September to November, winter from then till February and spring till May end. A distribution so well balanced. But this is more in case of Southern Japan. North experiences longer winters and hardly any summer. North experiences dense snow-fall during winters which makes living a bit cumbersome. Skiing gets into the schedule during these months. Skiing is possible till April end/Early May, the period during which Gurgaon shall be boiling eggs in open-air using natural heat. A mere phone-call to one of my colleagues in India last week who was informing me the current temperature in Gurgaon to be 47⁰C, made me sweat here.

Rains are from early June till July end. But this is just on paper, I presume for the reason that it rains atleast once in a week here in Hamamatsu. Rains in Japan are unusually high. Talking about rains, Yes, it does rain frequently in Japan. If you happen to be a tour-lover & love travelling, there is no reason, whatsoever, for you to get disappointed basically for 2 reasons. Weather forecast reports are pretty accurate here in Japan. Kindly keep a track of it and plan accordingly. Another big advantage is, even in-case of heavy lashing rains, it is a one-day problem and never gets carried over to the next day. The roads are so well banked & sewage system is so very efficient that you get to see completely dry, fresh roads, feel fresh air the immediate morning and you can easily afford to plan an outing for that day unlike in Gurgaon where 2 hours of rain on a Sunday evening will aid you reach office 2 hours late on every day of the following week till Saturday, leave alone an outing plan. It is totally out of scope.

Winds are an integral part of daily life in Japan. They are rampant and omnipresent across Japan. Possessing a capability of toppling an array of cycles on any normal day, winds do bother you, if you have not got used to it. Your cycle literally stops while riding, at times and you start feeling proud that you are able to sustain your balance for long at 0 kmph. Winds combined with rains sometimes make your day tough. India made umbrellas will never come in handy. They either fly-away or if you try to get hold of them tight, they open-up on the other side or their spokes break. So, in either-case, you would be fortunate enough to get wet. Talking more on rains, Japanese, I presume hate to get wet. One water-droplet from the sky on a fresh morning and you can see hundreds of umbrellas out on that day. The height of precaution could be this. The office canteen is about 5 steps from our R&D building and Japanese are never ready to cross this light-year distance without an umbrella.
One very comfortable feature in every building in Japan is, there are air-conditioners to insulate you while you are inside, irrespective of the temperature outside and hence jackets and sweaters are to be taken out only if there are plans to set out.

Tout-ensemble, anybody would love Japan’s weather.