Summer in Japan is very 蒸し暑い (“muggy” / hot and humid).
“Beware of heat stroke in the hot summer!”
Florida, where I grew up, is also hot and humid during the summer. But, unlike Japan, I don’t recall any particular traditions of summer in Florida…other than going to the beach or water-slide parks.
Japanese people like to celebrate the uniqueness of the seasons of the year. There are traditions in autumn, winter, spring and summer in Japan.
A few of Japan’s summer traditions are:
● Summer festivals and fireworks shows.
Japan has 祭り (festivals) all year round…but there’s an abundance of them in the summer. And in late July to early August, there are many excellent 花火大会 (fireworks shows). Click here to see my listing of summer festivals in the Tokyo area.
● スイカ割り (“Watermelon smashing”)
This is a Japanese summertime tradition that is similar to Mexico’s piñata. In both traditions, people take turns being blindfolded and try to hit the target with a stick, but in Mexico, the target is a kind of paper doll filled with candy that gets hit until it breaks open, Japan’s スイカ割り (“Watermelon smashing”) has a watermelon as the target. Once the watermelon gets hit and breaks open, everyone enjoys eating it.
● アナゴ (freshwater eel) Eating eel is believed to give stamina to survive the grueling summer heat. Click here to read a post that I wrote about it.
● 蝉 (Cicadas)
Every summer the 蝉 (cicadas) can be heard chirping in Japan. It’s considered one of the sounds of summer.
I wrote this post about the cicada in Japan.
● かき氷 (Shaved ice)
Eating shaved ice with a sweet syrup flavoring is a popular way to people to stay cool in the summer in Japan.
If you want to buy a かき氷 (Shaved ice) in Japan, you can find them when you see a flag or poster that looks like this:
The character is 「氷」 and means “ice”
● ビアガーデン (“Beer garden”)
In the summertime, many places in Japan offer space to drink beer outdoors (and often on the building’s roof) in the cool night breeze.
Some places offer an “all-you-drink” (within a time limit) special.
●Pools and beaches
Of course, swimming is popular in the summertime in Japan just as it is in Florida.
Pools and beaches in Japan have lifeguards on duty and very few are open year-round.
Most of them are opening around now. Toshimaen, an excellent amusement park / waterslide park / pool in Tokyo opened on weekends only beginning July 2nd this year and will be open everyday from July 16th until September 4th.
What types of traditions does your country have in the summer?
Currently it’s 「梅雨」 (“Rainy season“) in Japan. As usual for this time of year, it’s forecast to rain a lot for the next few days.
But also, the temperature is rising steadily and it’s quite humid. Today it was a muggy 31°C (88°F) in Tokyo.
Summer is hot and humid here…but it’s still very enjoyable. There’s so much to do.
Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer are all very different in Japan. Of course the weather is different…but I mean the food, festivals, and general atmosphere is different and unique to each season.
In a couple of earlier posts I mentioned that fast-food chains in Japan have spicy items on their menus (Click here to read one of those posts)…but fast-food isn’t a traditional Japanese summer tradition of course, and actually their spicy summer foods aren’t extremely popular in Japan (I haven’t even tried any of them).
There are traditional foods that are very popular in Japan during the summer to help you deal with the summer heat.
Some of them are:
– 冷やし中華 (“Hiyashi Chuuka“). Cold noodles, cucumbers, ham, tomatoes, and cold soy sauce.
– スイカ (watermelon)
– かき氷 (shaved ice)
– ビール (beer)…Popular all year long, of course. But excellent to help you cool down in the summer.
– うな丼 (Freshwater eel on rice). This is said to help keep up your stamina in hot weather.
うな丼 (Freshwater eel on rice). I enjoy this dish a lot!
Some other aspects of summer in Japan include:
– the beaches and pools become crowded. Especially in August.
– the numerous summer festivals including 花火 (summer fireworks shows).
– insects. The “sound of summer” in Japan is the chirping of the セミ (cicadas). There are also カブト虫 (beetles)…and, unfortunately, ゴキブリ (cockroaches) and 蚊 (mosquitoes).
– 蚊取線香 (mosquito repellent incense).
蚊取線香 (mosquito repellent incense) often is shaped like a pig
To stay cool, there’s also ウチワ and 扇子 (types of paper fans), and ジンベイ and ユカタ (traditional Japanese summer clothing).
This isn’t an all-exclusive description of a summer in Japan, of course. It’s difficult to describe…you should come to Japan in each of the seasons and see “four different Japans”.
My oldest daughter plays the trumpet in her Jr. High brass band.
Today her school’s brass band participated in the annual 東京都中学校吹奏楽コンクール (Metropolitan Tokyo Junior High School Brass Band Competition).
She did excellent!
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After that, we went to 東京ドームシティ (Tokyo Dome City).
It’s an amusement park and shopping center next to the Tokyo Dome (which is the home to the Tokyo Giants baseball team. And many concerts and events are held here, too) and the very tall “Tokyo Dome Hotel“.
Here’s a short video of the area behind the Tokyo Dome:
And here’s another short video I took while looking out a window in the shopping center:
When I walked past the Kentucky Fried Chicken there, I noticed the Col. Sanders statue out front.
“KFC” (or 「ケンタッキー」 (“Kentucky”) as it’s known here) in Japan usually have a near life-size statue of Col. Sanders out front. He is often dressed to fit the current season.
Here’s a picture of him from last X-mas:
And here he is today (he’s wearing a Japanese 半被 (Happi coat)…which is a common sight at Japanese summer festivals):
Tokyo Dome City has a few food courts. At lunchtime, we went to the smallest one and ate at an excellent bread shop.
Here’s a short view of that food court:
The “McDonalds” that you can see in that video gets pretty crowded. So they have something I’ve never seen before…for customers who want their food for “Take out” can go through the “Walk Thru Gate” (as opposed to a “Drive Thru”). I was also surprised that the sign for it was written in English:
There’s a wild roller-coaster ride at the Tokyo Dome City that goes through a building.
Here’s a video of it:
In alot of restaurants in Japan, there’s a display out from that shows realistic, plastic models of the menu items.
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Yesterday it stormed real hard and there was flash flooding.
Parts of the Tokyo sewage system became flooding and six workers were sent to repair it.
The current was so strong that they got washed away. One man escaped to safety, but two men have been confirmed dead.
The other three are missing, as of today, and feared dead.
When we left Tokyo Dome City today, we walked past 神田川 (Kanda River) on the way to the train station. As we did, we saw the Tokyo Fire Department and Police divers searching the river for the three missing men.
It’d be a miracle…but I hope they find them alive.
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Japan has vending machines that sell nearly anything!
From vending machines here, you can get rice, beer, cigarettes, flowers, eggs, candy, cola, tea, coffee (hot or cold), magazines, newspapers, stamps, condoms, underwear, telephone cards, train tickets, bread, etc, etc…
Here’s an 傘の自動販売機 (umbrella vending machine):
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Today my 「SUICA 定期券」 (I.C. monthly train pass) expired, so I had to get a new one.
When I first came to Japan, the train lines sold 磁気定期券 (Magnetic monthly train passes).
(This photo is from “JR East”‘s website. It’s not a photo of an actual pass…the name on it is “Tarou Higashinihon (East-Japan)”).
This pass would be inserted into the ticket gate like a regular ticket (and it would come out the other side). The customer would pay for either a one-month, three-month, or a six-month pass between any two stations. Then it could be used between those stations as many times as the owner of the pass wished…until the expiration date (at which it had to be renewed). The three and six month passes offered a greater discount.
If the pass owner went past either of the two stations on the pass, he would pay the fare difference in cash.
But a few years ago, Japan introduced a new Intregrated Circuit (I.C.) card (some countries call it a “smart card”).
The one’s issued by the main train line are green and called “SUICA“. Other train lines, subway lines, and bus companies all use the pink “PASMO” card.
The two are interchangeable…meaning either card can be used to pay for JR train lines, other train lines, subways, buses, as well as some vending machines and shops and restaurants near train and subway stations.
The SUICA card:
This card can be charged at station machines and used by swiping it at the train or store or vending machine sensors.
It doesn’t even need to be removed from your wallet.
But it can also be used, as I do, as a 「SUICA 定期券」 (I.C. monthly train pass). In the same way as the magnetic train pass that I mentioned above, this card can have a 1, 3 or 6 month pass between two stations.
What makes it better is that it can be quickly swiped as you enter the station and if you go past either of the two stations…it takes the fare balance from the funds that the card owner charged it with.
The 「SUICA 定期券」 (I.C. monthly train pass):
(Once again, this pic is from J.R.’s website)
It’s called “Suica” for a few reasons…スイ (“Sui”) is kinda like “swish” in English. A swiping sound. And カ (ka (or “ca”)) can be easily seen by Japanese as an obvious abbreviation for カード (card). Also, スイカ (Suika) means “watermelon” in Japanese…and the design on the card is train tracks in a circular pattern on a green background. It looks like a watermelon logo.
On the card, the name “Suica” is written with the “ic” a different color…because it’s an “IC” card.
Get it?
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At the subway station, I saw this advertisement for the 「東京マラソン２００９」 (Tokyo Marathon 2009):
It reminded me of “SF Runner“, so I took a picture of it so he could see it.
Tokyo Five 
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