Rainy Season 2018

It has rained all day. I even woke up early this morning for the “sole” reason to get a run in before the rain started. Unfortunately, a 4:30am wake up was too late. It was already raining. A steady downpour with no wind and lots of humidity. According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency, June 6th was the official start of rainy season for our area. The official Facebook page of the Navy base, CFAY, posted this informative graphic. Last year rainy season started on June 9th. I have been expecting rainy season and have been making appropriate preps to deal with the extra humidity. Our strategy last year seemed to work well. So, I think we will stick with the same plan – keep the house cool and run the dehumidifiers!

I used the day to work on learning my Japanese. I decided to start memorizing the pronunciation of the Japanese Kana (Hiragana only right now – bottom left corner of each box). Using a set of flash cards Dina gave me before she moved, I have successfully memorized the top three rows of this sheet.

The cards are super helpful because they give examples of words and also a pneumonic visual to help memorize the shape. I was able to memorize their shape as well as write them.

Despite the rainy day and Netflix indulging, I felt productive. I also spent time researching things to do on rainy days. Because, according to my weather app, the next week holds a lot of moisture. I’ll have to make great use of the beautiful day on Friday!

One thing is for sure about rainy season, my plants love it!

Since the beginning of this month, we have heard a lot about the rainy season in Japan. June started off with very rainy and humid weather and then cooled down and the humidity cleared. On Wednesday, there was noticeably more humidity in the air.

At both of my English classes today, my Japanese students mentioned rainy season has begun. I find this funny because other than the rain yesterday, it hasn’t rained in a while. I asked my students how can it be rainy season when it’s not raining. They explained that it wasn’t just about thevrain but also the extra humidity. Ahhh. Ok, I felt I needed more information.

I was able to find a very interesting and informative video from Westpacwx about the rainy season. It is too long to insert into my blog, but you can view it here.

For where we live in Japan, we should expect to experience the rainy season from now until the end of the month.

The monsoon or rainy season is a result of the Siberian high pressure receding and being replaced by the Western Pacific High. The Siberian high pressure system is cool dry air that was in place during the winter and the Western Pacific High pressure is warm moist air which by July and through August will be in place over Japan. Where these two high pressure systems meet create a frontal system with intense periods of rain or monsoons.

Another article I found discussed survival strategies for monsoon season. I feel like I’m ahead of the curve. I have two pairs of rain boots, a plethora of umbrellas in a stand (and car), and three dehumidifiers.

Also, I over purchased disposable dehumidifiers at Costco earlier this spring.

Another item the article suggest is a gauze sheet for sleeping. Surprisingly, Dave and I prefer to sleep on our lightweight flannel sheets in the summer. Last summer, we found the cotton sheets to feel too cool and almost damp. The light weight flannel is soft and snuggly! The article encourages a couple types of shoe dyers and charcoal sheets. I haven’t purcahsed these specific items yet. So far, I have experienced success by keeping our running shoes next to the dehumidifier after we run to help them dry faster. I might need to look into the mold killer if my preventive methods fail. Like keeping all doors open and running the bathroom exhaust fans. All of this might seem a little extreme. However, I have been told numerous horror stories about couches and walls being covered in mold. Ugh. Between mold and the mukade, I’m officially waging war on moisture!

And yes, the mukade have returned. I have killed three outside of our house this spring. I call housing weekly to come and spray. I’m hoping to prevent the infiltration we experienced last summer. I keep forgetting to snap a picture of them before I kill them because I just want them dead. Next time, I will video their dance of death after I spray them with the Japanese mukade death spray.

Overall, I think we are adequately prepared for the onset of monsoon season. I’ll report back on my lessons learned in September.