Teru-teru Bozu

It’s not cold in Tokyo today…the temperature is very comfortable.  And it’s forecast to stay this warm all week at least.
It’s nice weather today but it’s forecast to rain tomorrow and Friday.

If you have outdoor plans on a day that it’s forecast to rain, what do you do in your country?

In Japan, people (especially children) hang a Teru-Teru-Bozu up.

Do you know what a “Teru-teru-bozu” is?

Teru-Teru-Bozu is a Japanese charm that is supposed to keep rain away.

When Japanese kids have an outdoor event, such as a school “Sports Day” or a field trip, and it’s forecast to rain on that day (and cause the event to be cancelled), they will make a Teru-Teru-Bozu out of cloth or, more commonly, tissue paper and hang it up.

There’s also a song for the Teru-Teru-Bozu that is along the lines of the English song “Rain, Rain, Go Away”.

Actually, I’ve written about Teru-Teru-Bozu once before, five years ago. (Click here to read it.)

Rainy season

I watch the 天気予報 (weather forecast) on TV every morning.

Today, they said that 梅雨 (rainy season) has officially started in Japan today.

It is starting early this year! Normally rainy season begins in mid-June (I wrote a post about it four years ago. Click here to read it.)

It’s raining in many parts of Japan today…but, thankfully, not in Tokyo.
It is forecast to rain in Tokyo tomorrow though.

Are you in Japan? Are you planning to come soon? Have you ever experienced a rainy season in Japan before?

Rainy day in Nezu

It was forecast to rain today but my wife and I decided to go to 根津神社 (Nezu Shrine).

I’ve written posts about this shrine before when we’ve gone there on sunny days and during festivals.

When we left our house the weather was sunny and warm. It was hard to believe that the TV weatherman said it would rain in the afternoon.

At lunchtime the weather was still nice, so we stopped at a convenience store and bought some beer and sandwiches and ate lunch in a park not far from the shrine.

After lunch we headed to 根津神社 (Nezu Shrine) as the sky was turning dark and the temperature began to drop.
It was a good thing that we brought our umbrellas because it began to rain hard as we were leaving the shrine.

Here are the photos that I took:

These turtles were cute…but our turtle is cuter! 😉

I think this bird was a type of 「白鷺」 (Egret).

The torii at the entrance to 根津神社 (Nezu Shrine).

Japanese lamp.

Sign says 「根津神社」 ("Nezu Shrine")

A row of over 150 "torii".

Click here to see my post with a video I took while walking through these.

Winter’s back

Yesterday (Sunday, March 6th) was a nice day and it was pretty warm. My wife and I went to 上野 (Ueno, Tokyo) and walked around (my kids stayed home and studied for their final exams this week).

Ueno train station (Tokyo, Japan)

It was so warm that I began to think that spring has come. But this morning I saw the weather forecast on TV that said it would be a cold and rainy day today…and from about 9:00AM – lunchtime, it would snow!

Tokyo's weather forecast for 2011 March 7 - 14.

The weather forecast was exactly right. It was quite cold today and it snowed all morning starting at about 9:00AM.

I’m happy to see that it’s not forecast to rain or snow anymore for the rest of the week. It’s be sunny most days…and start getting warmer again. Next Monday is forecast to have a high temperature of 16°C (about 61°F).

How’s the weather in your city now?

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?

+++++

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

Typhoon

There’s a 台風 (typhoon) near Tokyo now.

It’s been raining in Tokyo since yesterday…and it’s forecast to rain until Friday.

The TV weather information said that the typhoon will hit Tokyo the day after tomorrow (Thursday). So the rain and wind will be really strong on that day.

If you’re in the Tokyo area, be careful if you have to go out this week…especially Thursday!

The good news is that’s it’s forecast to be sunny from Saturday…so it’ll be nice weather for the upcoming three-day-weekend (Monday’s a holiday (体育の日 (Health Day))).

On the TV

At the moment, all that is on the TV in Japan is either the 台風 (typhoon) that is hitting the Tokyo area today, and the national election results.

Tokyo is in the path of the approaching typhoon.

Be careful if you’re on the east coast of Japan and you have to go out today.
The weather will be bad all day today, but it’s forecast to be nice tomorrow (normally, after a typhoon passes the sky is very clear).

Regarding Japan’s election today, the results are still not all in yet, but it’s winding down and the 民主党 (Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)) is winning in a landslide.
This is an upset victory because the 自由民主党 (Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)) has won nearly every national election in Japan since the end of WWII. The current Japanese Prime Minister (Taro Asou) is the president of the LDP.

The next Prime Minister of Japan will more than likely be 鳩山由紀夫 (Yukio Hatoyama).

鳩山由紀夫 (Yuki Hatoyama)

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.