Tweet of the Week #91: A Never Ending Rainy Season

As if 2020 wasn’t already bad enough, Japan had to put up with torrential rain, deadly floods, and what feels like a never-ending rainy season. The only ray of light amid the clouds, Japan could have its first typhoon-free July since records started in 1951.

The rainy season is called 梅雨（つゆ） (also ばいう) in Japanese, which translates to “plum rain.” It begins from late May to mid-June and lasts through July. The season coincides with the ripening of Japan’s plums picked to make plum liquor (梅酒（うめしゅ）) and pickled plums (梅干（うめぼ）し).

During this period, Japan experiences weeks of rain and unpredictable weather. Temperatures aren’t that hot, but the humidity reaches unbearable highs, molding your clothes and making physical activity very sweaty.

When does the rainy season end?!

Japan enters the beginning of the rainy season (梅雨入（つゆい）り) when the Japanese Meteorological Agency says it does. This is usually after observing a string of rainy days and unsettled weather. The season ends (梅雨明（つゆあ）け) when, well, the rain stops and the weather gets hot and sunny.

https://twitter.com/kanahei_/status/1287661886897451008?s=20

明（あ）けそうで明けない梅雨の明け待（ま）ち

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“Waiting for the rainy season to end.”

But this year around, tsuyu seems to have no end. Tokyo saw a record 18th straight day of rain and no sunlight, a first since 1988. But Tokyo folks got it easy compared to the hardships people living in southwestern and central Japan went through. The extreme heavy rainfalls triggered severe floods, overflowing rivers, and mudslides.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that everyone in Japan is, for once, longing for hot summer days to start.

もう雨ヤダｧｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱ！！！
夏きてないし7月終わるじゃん！！！ pic.twitter.com/m4w3oUI6Vk

— あさひは面倒くさい (@rei124c41) July 29, 2020

もう雨（あめ）ヤダｧｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱ！！！

夏（なつ）きてないし7月（しちがつ）終（お）わるじゃん！！！

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“I can’t put up with the rain anymore!!!!!

It’s not summer, but isn’t July ending!?!!!”

今週末には梅雨明けの予報！
だけど今日は大雨！
早く梅雨明けてくれ〜笑 pic.twitter.com/JNltOjO6hn

— うっちー (@ucchiy42) July 27, 2020

今週末（こんしゅうまつ）には梅雨明けの予報（よほう）！

だけど今日（きょう）は大雨（おおあめ）！

早（はや）く梅雨明けてくれ〜笑

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“The end of the rainy season has been forecast for this weekend,

But today it’s raining a lot!

Please, make the rainy season end soon! lol”

ミケちゃん「ちょっと前はやすらぎさんが来る時間はお外は明るかったけど今は暗いわ。なんだか今年は梅雨が明ける頃には夏を通り越して秋になってそう……。」 pic.twitter.com/8oWkSY7rMz

— ミケちゃん (@ojm52811) July 27, 2020

ミケちゃん「ちょっと前（まえ）はやすらぎさんが来（く）る時間（じかん）はお外（そと）は明（あか）るかったけど今は暗（くら）いわ。なんだか今年（ことし）は梅雨が明ける頃（ころ）には夏を通（とう）り越（こ）して秋（あき）になってそう……。」

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“Mike-chan, ‘A while ago, around the time [my neighbor] came, it was bright outside, but now it’s dark. Somehow this year, when the rainy season will end, summer will have past by, and we’ll be in autumn…'”

Talking about rain in Japanese

The Japanese language lists over 400 words to talk extensively about rain. Lucky for you, the majority of them are mostly cultural expressions that you will not find outside of books and poems. So we’ve selected keywords that Japanese folks use daily to talk about rainy days all year long. Let’s first have a quick overview of seasonal rains, because as one should know, Japan has four seasons.

• 秋雨（あきさめ）: autumnal rain
• 氷雨（ひさめ）: chilly rain, from the end of autumn till early winter
• 凍雨（とうう）: winter rain
• 春時雨（はるしぐれ）: gentle spring rain
• 五月雨（さみだれ）: early summer rain
• 夕立（ゆうだち: summer afternoon rain ）

If you check the Japan Meteorological Agency website, you’ll learn how precise Japanese people can be when it comes to the wet weather.

While the vocabulary above is used by weather forecast programs, most folks will use the following words:

• 小雨（こさめ）: light rain or drizzle and its antonym, 大雨（おおあめ）: heavy rain
• 小降（こぶ）り: light rain and its antonym, どしゃ降（ぶり: heavy rain
• 俄雨にわかあめ: rain shower

While we all wait for the sunny days, this umbrella seems to be an excellent idea, and we’d love to give it a try!

https://twitter.com/After100days/status/1288233822664839168?s=20

この傘（かさ）は初（はじ）めて見（み）たwwww欲（ほ）しいwwww

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“First time seeing such an umbrella lol Neeeeed lol”

Vocabulary

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