Summertime in Japan

Summertime is in full swing in Japan right now! For students, this means five whole weeks of summer vacation! The kids weep when finding out that summer vacation spans nearly three entire months in America, and that there is absolutely no homework! The last week of school at junior high I  watched my students' dreams of beaches and lazy hours catching up on sleep literally melt before their eyes as the English teacher announced their laundry list of homework. Poor kids; they still have to come every day for club activities, so they really never get a break. In America, images of summer include camping, root beer floats, 4th of July, state fairs, and barbecues. Here in Japan, summer conjures up thoughts of unbearable humidity, cicadas, fireworks, festivals, confessions of love, and scary yokai, or spirits, stories. How does this compare with your country?


Let's take a look at Japanese summertime. First off, all the festivals and fireworks! Unlike the U.S. where fireworks happen just one night on the 4th of July, in Japan you can watch fireworks numerous times throughout July and August! Each city usually has its own festival, usually with a fireworks show. Last weekend I visited one of the most popular fireworks festival in Japan at the Sumida River in Asakusa, Tokyo. Literally thousands upon thousands of people show up every year, and it's nearly impossible to find a place from which to view them if you don't get there hours before and claim a spot. That being said, trees, buildings, and a freeway overpass makes it tricky to find a place you can see the fireworks. Still, every year thousands of people brave these odds for a chance at seeing fireworks light up the night sky, and you can take pictures with the beautiful Sky Tree in the background, which lights up blue at night.

Got to wear a yukata this year!

Sky Tree

Even after the chaos of last year, I decided to go again this year. A word of caution: if you're planning on staying till the end of the fireworks show, which lasts around an hour, you better make a beeline to the station, along with all the other thousands of people, and have a ticket or pass card ready rather than wait in line to buy a ticket. Last year I failed to make the last train home to Hitachi and had to fork over for a cab back home >_< Anyway, it's a pretty big event, and the only way to get a good seat is to show up hours in advance and lay down a tarp to save your place, or come as a group and take turns manning the fort. Some people even had their own makeshift living room set up with zabuton cushions and a whole table spread with a feast! The ideal way to enjoy fireworks is surrounded by family and friends and good food and drink.

Other great fireworks options to check out if you're in Ibaraki are the Mito Koumon Matsuri fireworks in August, and the Tsuchiura fireworks festival the first weekend of October. The latter is about as crowded as the Sumida River fireworks, but it lasts for around 4 hours, and it's all nonstop!

Festivals
Festivals occur every weekend in July and August throughout Japan, and each one is slightly different. There are always food stalls and games, as well as dance performances, parades, and often a procession carrying around a palanquin.

My local festival last year!

Mito Koumon Matsuri

Mito Koumon Matsuri

Just like any state fair or carnival, festivals here wouldn't be complete without games. One of the most popular ones is kingyo tsuri, or goldfish catching. The aim is to scoop a goldfish above the water with a thin paper net. Similar to this is catching yo-yo balloons filled with a little water.

If you journey up to Sendai in Northern Japan, you can enjoy the jaw-dropping Tanabata decorations. I went last year (in search of meeting Sochi Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu, as it's his hometown) and there were literally hundreds of them.

Tanabata Festival in Sendai

Another event in my local town is the Sand Art Festival, which attracts people from all over Ibaraki to see the awesome sand sculptures. It's a must-see!

Hitachi Sand Art Festival

Festival Food
Pretty much like carnival or state fair food; on the junkier side of the food pyramid and often served up on a stick.

Yakisoba: noodles fried up on the grill.

Okonomiyaki: a savory pancake with noodles, lettuce, fried egg, and meat covered in delicious sauce and topped with mayonnaise, bonito fish flakes, and seaweed flakes. When the fish flakes are added on top of the piping hot pancake it looks like they're dancing!

Takoyaki: ocotopus fritters, adorned with the same sauce and toppings as okonomiyaki.

Kari kari cheese: fried sticks of cheese! What could be better?

Imagawayaki: round, thick pancakes with filling such as red bean paste, cream, or chocolate stuffed inside.

Kakigori: shave ice! Popular flavors include Blue Hawaii, melon, and strawberry.

What's more, festivals are also seen as excellent places to confess your love to that special person! At least in anime and movies. But what could be more romantic than hanging out with that special someone, seeing them in their yukata, and sitting under the fireworks?

Moving on, summer is not all fun and games here. In fact there are many very, very annoying - sometimes impossible! - things to deal with in summertime Japan. First off, let me complain about the obnoxious cicadas making noise all hours of the day. Back in Minnesota we have these annoying critters which sound like whirring lawnmowers screaming in your ears despite the fact that they may be several blocks away and smaller - but not by much - than the average bird. You see these popping up in anime and movies, and surprisingly Japanese people don't seem bothered by them and actually wouldn't consider it summer without them. Now me on the other hand...Last year I was interested in investing in a BB gun. This year summer didn't start until the third week of July - it's been seriously wet from tsuyu, the rainy season, and strangely cold - so I haven't reached that point yet this year, but luckily I won't have to endure the entire summer listening to them. I won't gross you out with all the disgusting facts about cicadas, but suffice it to say if you don't have them where you live you're lucky. Then there's also some kind of bird with a very loud and very obnoxious call out there, and between the two....>_<

Second, there's no custom of daylight savings here (called summertime in Japanese), so the sun streams in through your window bright and early at 4:30 in the morning and wakes you up. Eye masks are a must. And thus it gets dark between 7 and 7:30, tricking you into thinking it's later and hastening your production of sleep hormones, ugh. But by far the hardest to deal with is the oppressive humidity, which soars into the 70 to 90 percent range. If you've ever been to Florida during the summer, you'll get an idea of what this might be like. Until you come to Japan and spend an entire summer walking around Tokyo or teaching school in air-conditionless rooms you cannot fathom what this is like. That being said, this year we've been blessed with cooler temperatures and a late summer. Last year this sort of weather started from around mid-May all through mid/late September. Yet it wasn't as hot then - it stayed around 80 degrees, but the average this summer is about 90. This weekend it got up to 99 in Tokyo - in this kind of weather you're better off staying indoors all day long.

Anyway, I think that's about all there is to complain about summertime here. All in all it means I can go swimming at the many local beaches in Hitachi (although the water is still quite frigid!), enjoy festivals and fireworks, and take a much-needed break from teaching. What could be better? Summer is my favorite season after all.