Japan rainy season 2021 [ROUND UP]

As if Monday’s aren’t grey enough, a large swathe of Japan kicked-off the week with news that the rainy season is now upon them. 

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), June 14 marked the start of the rainy season, or “tsuyu” in Japanese, for the country’s Kanto-Koshin region. 

It’s a late start for the region that covers parts of central and eastern Japan -- including Tokyo to the east and Niigata Prefecture in central Japan. Rainy season 2021 for the region comes seven days later than the June 7 average and three days later than last year, according to the JMA.

While the Kanto-Koshin region was slow enough to get out of the blocks that it may have left us thinking that perhaps we’d gotten lucky and were going to be spared the damp misery altogether, the rainy season this year was up and at 'em in western and other central parts of Japan. 

In fact for the Shikoku and Kinki regions of Japan -- Kinki covering the prefectures of Hyogo, Nara, Shiga, Wakayama, and Mie, as well as Kyoto and Osaka -- recorded earliest-on-record rainy season starts, 21 days early than the average, according to local news reports. 

Rainy season is yet to have started in the Hokuriku and Tohoku regions of Japan according to the JMA, although by the averages it should have.

Despite early starts for some parts of Japan no regions are yet to have emerged from 2021’s rainy season -- by the law of averages the earliest to shake off the damp should be Okinawa around June 21. Although it’s only just kicked off here, we should be high and dry here in the Kanto-Koshin region by the weekend (or around June 19 -- what chance of that this year then?), and in Northern Tohoku, the rainy season ends, on average, around July 28. 

Keep up-to-date with the dates at the website of the Japan Meteorological Agency:

https://www.data.jma.go.jp/fcd/yoho/baiu/sokuhou_baiu.html 

Japan’s season of grey and damp, although punctuated by the beautiful colors of seasonal hydrangea flowers, has been hitting record form in recent years. Who remembers the lovely 52-day tsuyu stretch of 2019 in the Kanto-Koshin region, during which Tokyo saw less than three hours of sunlight per day for an unbroken stint of around three weeks? Perhaps you’ve tried your best to forget. 

(Umbrellas up in Tokyo's Ginza district)

Maybe some rainy season respite can be found in indulging in shopping for seasonal kit. A dehumidifier is usually to be found at the top popularity, or "ninki," rankings at this time of year in Japan, along with a myriad of umbrellas -- a tidy pocket job is surely a rainy season essential -- and the latest style of rain boots. 

Among the “rain goods” rankings for 2021 we do rather like the sound of the “rain shushu” (レインシュシュ). What we first thought to be something to tie back hair is actually a tidy bit of kit used to wipe excess water from a folded umbrella. 

Hopefully the “shushu” can help reduce use of those plastic covers for wet umbrellas dished out with abandon at entrances to supermarkets and department stores. One wonders how much of that great flotilla of garbage somewhere in the Pacific is constituted by Japan’s umbrella covers.

Back to the theme of dehumidifiers and mold prevention in the home, some of your past posts still offer great tips and advice

Managing humidity and mold in Japan's rainy season: 

https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/Lisagoestotokyo/z1Anv-living_tokyo

Disposable Dehumidifiers: Cheap, Effective Mold Fighters:

https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/JTsuzuki/z8QRa-living_money

Keeping closets and drawers mold free, naturally:

https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/genkidesu/wrVPR-living_shopping

And for your shoes … 

https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/JTsuzuki/wXQPb-living

Sometimes it can feel like Japan’s rainy season is, at best, something to be endured. The relentless gloom and damp is perhaps Japan’s equivalent of the nights drawing in, in countries where the nights draw in significantly. Add to this gloom, then, the strange combination of feeling humid, sticky and short of energy yet not quite sure if you need to wear long sleeves to prevent a bit of chill. 

(Hydrangea flowers something of a symbol of Japan's rainy season)

It’s no surprise that destination rankings for this time of year are usually topped by Japan’s northern regions and higher altitudes, as people race to escape the damp and breathe some crisp air.  

There’s no need to merely endure though. Ways to get proactive in life during the rainy season can be found in more of your posts on City-Cost. (Do bear in mind though, that these were written prior to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.)

How to survive rainy season in Japan: 

From rainy-day deals and glorious walks in the rain to handling your laundry and being commuter savvy.

https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/Lyssays/GBbkj-living_transportation_fashion

How to enjoy the rainy season in Japan:

Rainy season gloom can make for some great pics, too.

https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/genkidesu/Mn5ZJ-living_howto 

It's just rain:

More ideas and a much-needed reality check, it is just rain after all ...

https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/helloalissa/GREKz-living

7 Practical Rainy Season Fashion Tips:

Someone once told us, “you can be stylish at all times.” We’ve probably failed emphatically in this regard but with this post we can find ideas and motivation to up our game and comfort levels during the rainy season.

https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/Bella/we9on-living_fashion_yamagata_saitama

Iris season: 

Beautiful flowers in bloom during rainy season. 

https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/TonetoEdo/wj7V1-living_noda_shi_chiba