雪が降ってる

Every morning I watch a television show called 「めざましテレビ」 (“Mezamashi TV“).

I watch this show every day while I’m getting ready for work and eating breakfast.
This show is a news magazine type show.
Of course they give the weather forecast every morning. And this morning, they said that it would be cloudy in the morning, then rain after lunch, and then begin snowing tonight and tomorrow.

And it happened just as they said. It began raining after lunch and now it’s snowing.

It doesn’t snow often in Tokyo. Usually only one or two times a year…and very rarely does it snow heavily.
It’s forecast to continue snowing tomorrow…but I doubt the trains will be delayed. I hope not.

Weather forecast for 2010 February 1 and 2 in Tokyo.

The weather forecast for Tokyo for 2010 February 1 and 2 says 90% chance of snow tonight (but it’s snowing now…so I guess it’s actually 100%), then 50% chance of snow tomorrow until 6AM…after 6AM, it should stop snowing.

Today the temperature was 5°C (low) to 9°C (high). Tomorrow, it’s forecast to be 1°C (low) to 10°C (high).

How’s the weather where you are?

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Also, we usually watch the テレビアニメ (TV cartoon) called 「ちびまる子」 (“Chibi-Maruko“) on Sunday evenings.

It’s a fun cartoon.
The マンガ (comic) series of 「ちびまる子」 (“Chibi-Maruko“) began in 1986.
The アニメ (cartoon) on TV started in 1990 January…so the TV series is celebrating it’s 20th year now.

I came to Japan in 1990…the same year that the 「ちびまる子」 (“Chibi-Maruko“) TV cartoon started.

(There was also a short-run live action TV series with actors that resembled the characters. But it wasn’t nearly as popular as the anime).

「ちびまる子」 (“Chibi-Maruko“) is drawn by an artist named さくら・ももこ (Sakura Momoko)…and the main character in the series is also named is さくら・ももこ (Sakura Momoko). Her nickname is まる子 (Maruko).

The story and characters are based on the artist and her family and friends when she was a third-grade student in the mid-1970s.

Have you ever watched the 「ちびまる子」 (“Chibi-Maruko“) TV cartoon or read the comic?

Typhoon again

Earlier this month there was a 台風 (typhoon) that hit Japan. It was the first one to hit Japan directly in a number of years.
(Click here to read my post about it).

Well, the weather was very cool (today’s high temperature was 17° C in Tokyo), rainy and windy all day today…because there’s another 台風 (typhoon) near Japan.

Look at this weather map showing the rain over Eastern Japan.

This typhoon isn’t hitting Japan directly like the last one did.

Here’s a map showing the typhoon’s forecasted path…it was off the coast of Tokyo at 8:00PM tonight and it’ll be past northern Japan and closer to Russia tomorrow.

But the 天気予報 (weather forecast) from tomorrow til next Monday for Tokyo is for the rain to stop early tomorrow morning and then sunny and warmer!

Tokyo's weather forecast for 2009 Oct 27 - Nov 2

梅雨

Today is the official first day of 梅雨 (the rainy season) in Tokyo.

It didn’t rain at all today, though.
It is forecast to rain tomorrow in Tokyo…but not the rest of the week.

Weather forecast for 2009 June 11 - 17.

The rainy season in Japan starts this time of year (mid-June) and lasts a few weeks.
北海道 (Hokkaido (Japan’s northernmost island)) doesn’t have a 梅雨 (rainy season).

It’s gonna snow?

This winter it hasn’t snowed at all in Tokyo yet.

It usually snows once or twice every winter. Not too much…usually just enough to turn the ground white, and it melts away in a day or two.
(I seem to recall that it used to snowed more heavily and more frequently in Tokyo when I first got here in 1990. Is my memory off…or has global warming changed Tokyo’s winters?)

Anyways…it’s forecast to snow in Tokyo for two days next week. On Tuesday, March 3 and Wednesday, March 4.

There’s an 80% probability of rain for today, then cloudy tomorrow, Sunday and Monday are supposed to be mostly sunny…then the snow on Tuesday and Wednesday…followed by a cloudy day next Thursday.

Do you like snow?
Personally, I don’t care for it much. Actually I like Spring and Summer much more than Winter!

Tokyo's weather forecast for February 27 - March 5, 2009.

Niigata

Today my youngest daughter will leave with her class for a school field trip to 新潟 (Niigata, Japan)…which is on the other coast of Japan and further north from Tokyo.

(I mention it in an earlier post. Click here to read it.)

新潟 (Niigata, Japan) is near the 日本海 (Sea Of Japan).

When her older sisters were in the sixth grade (the grade my youngest is in), they went on the same trip. They both had a great time…and my youngest daughter is really excited about it.

This trip is five days long…they’ll return on February 24. On the trip, they’ll meet local craftsmen and make a traditional Japanese craft, go to an 温泉 (hot spring), and do some hiking…but what the kids are looking forward to is the snow skiing that they’ll do!

The weather in Japan has been really nice recently (although cold)…but it’s forecast to rain starting today and continue for most of next week (it’s also supposed to snow in 新潟 (Niigata).

I hope the weather is good for my daughter’s trip.

Here’s 全国の天気予報 (weather forecast for all of Japan) for today:

Japan's weather forecast for Feb. 20, 2009

Here’s this week’s 天気予報 (weather forecast) for Tokyo for the next seven days:

Tokyo's weather forecast for Feb. 20-26, 2009

It says there’s 90% chance of rain in Tokyo today…and 50-60% chance of rain on the 23rd and 24th.

In 新潟 (Niigata):

Weather forecast for Niigata for Feb. 20-26, 2009.

It says it’ll snow and rain in Niigata today…and snow again tomorrow, then rain on the 23rd and 26th.

When I was in my twenties, I went snow skiing a couple times. I’ve only ever skied in Japan…in 北海道 (Hokkaido) and 新潟 (Niigata) (where my daughter’s going today).

Have you ever gone skiing? Where? In Japan?

雷！

Yesterday I took my two youngest daughters to a shopping mall that’s a short train ride from our home because they wanted to buy some things that they “really needed“.

I agreed to take them…but only for a short time because it looked like it would rain. And when we left the mall, that’s what it did. Really hard!

First there was thunder and lightning, then the rain came pouring down. But it was a summer shower…so it ended soon after it started.

Actually, we got lucky. It started raining soon after we boarded our train home, and stopped just before we got off the train. So we didn’t have to walk in the rain at all. Perfect timing!

Anyways, there are many summer festivals and fireworks shows in Japan this time of year. And many people wear 浴衣 (Japanese summer kimono) and 甚平 (Japanese traditional summer outfit) to these events.

At the mall, we saw a couple of girls who were probably going to a festival or fireworks show after the mall (it might have gotten rained out, though). I saw them browsing in a CD store.

It seemed like it’d make a good photo. So here’s the photo I took of them:

Here are some videos I took of the train ride while looking out the conductor’s window (a couple of them are from the ride home, so it’s raining hard):

News

Today, my oldest daughter leaves with her school class for a field trip to 京都 (Kyoto).

They’ll travel by 新幹線 (Bullet train) and stay in Kyoto for three days.

My daughter’s very excited! But, as for me, I always have mixed feelings whenever my kids go on a field trip…I’m happy that they get to see many great places and experiences—but I can’t relax until they’re back home safe!

Kyoto is gonna be nice for her to see. It was once the capital of Japan and is very traditional. Kyoto still has many 芸者 (Geisha) (or 芸妓 (Geiko) as they’re called on that side of Japan). There are still Geisha in Tokyo, but not as many as in Kyoto.

I can’t wait to see the pictures my daughter takes on her trip!

Next month, my second daughter’s class will take a three-day trip to 新潟 (Niigata).

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Last month, my wife started a small vegetable garden on our porch.

Last week, we ate 苺 (strawberries) from her garden and tonight we had a salad with ピーマン (green peppers) and トマト (tomatos) from the garden.

They were delicious!

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It was raining all day yesterday. Probably due to that 台風 (typhoon) that hit the Philippines.

I hope it doesn’t hit Japan! (By the way, did you know that typhoon is from a Japanese word…in Japanese, it’s 台風 (taifuu)).

Anyways, the weather forecast for Tokyo this week:

June 23:

June 24:

June 25:

June 26:

June 27:

June 28:

June 29:

Stabbing spree

Yesterday morning (Monday) on the news, they said that on Sunday, a 25 year old man drove a rental truck into a pedestrian-only street in the 秋葉原 (Akihabara electronics district) section of Tokyo to purposely hit people who were walking on the street.

Then he stopped the truck, got out and stabbed seventeen random people, killing 7 of them!

The police caught him and he told them that he was abused by his father during his childhood and he was sick of the world and wanted to kill people…any people.

It’s a tragedy and, luckily, not something that happens often in Japan…although the crime rate has gone up in recent years. But Japan is still one of (if not the) safest countries in the world.

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On a different note…the rainy season has begun in Japan about a week ago.

It’s been raining alot…but today was especially bad! It started out a warm, slightly overcast day and it rained a little bit on and off throughout the day. Just light sprinkling, though.

But then, at about 5:00PM, it started to rain really hard with thunder and lightning!

Rained out

Yesterday was supposed to by my oldest two daughters’ 運動会 (Sports Day) at their Junior High School, but it got postponed due to rain.

I knew it was forecast to rain today…but I hoped that the rain would hold off.

But now their Sports Day event will be held on Monday (June 2).

I’m not gonna be able to go and watch it because I have to work on Monday. Of course, I’ll watch the video of it that my wife will take.

This will be the first of any of my kids’　運動会 (Sports Day Events) that I’ve ever missed since they were in 保育園 (Nursery School).

A　運動会 (Sports Day) is an annual event at Japanese schools from Nursery School / Pre-school until High School. It’s often held in October to coincide with the Japanese holiday 体育の日(Sports / Exercise Day), (See my FAQ page about this holiday), but will sometimes be held in other months (usually Spring or Autumn, though).

Pre-school, Elementary school, Junior High, and High school events are all different, of course. There are some similarities, as well.

They all start and end with speeches from the school principal and “warm-up” and “cool-down” stretching.

At all of them (even Nursery School), the school band performs and it’s a well choreographed event for the parents and grandparents who are in the audience with cameras and video-cameras.

At the Nursery School / Pre-school Sports Day Events, there are lots of dances, games and races…many of which involve “Parent and Child” teams.

From Elementary School on, the events are more “conventional” team events with no “Parent / Child” teams anymore (the parents, though, can participate in a “Parents tug-of-war” event. I always participate in that every year…except this one 😦 ).

The kids in Junior High run really fast! When my oldest first started Junior High, I was surprised how fast the kids run the races at the Sports Day. I can imagine what they’re like in High School!

You can always tell when a school in Japan is getting ready for 運動会 (Sports Day)…Japanese Nursery Schools and Elementary Schools put up strings of flags of the world. It’s a Japanese Sports Day decoration like pumpkins at Halloween.

Also, from Elementary School on, some of the students design and paint giant banners for their class’ “team” flag.

This year, both of my two oldest daughters helped paint their respective class banners…and my second daughter is the person who designed her class’ banner herself!

I was really looking forward to seeing their artwork.

Anyways…I’m really disappointed that it rained today and I missed my daughters’ Sports Day, but I look forward to seeing the video of it on Monday. 🙂