今日の天気予報(today’s weather report)

Of the many things in Japan that have been so different from my life back home, the weather is definitely one of them. My Japanese friends would tell me about certain things regarding the weather and I nod along, as if I truly understood what I was getting myself into. But I don’t think I was truly prepared for the weather going in.

When I first arrived, it was fairly chilly. I was confused because I kept on hearing that it would be hot. But I had to put on my sweater and jacket. A few weeks later, it began to slowly get hot. For me, it wasn’t much of an issue. I was used to sunny hot weather in my home town. Summers back at home would go over 100 degrees daily.

But I was told that the weather would change some more as we got into summer. Of these changes was the typhoon season. This is completely different from back at home. It rarely rains in my hometown so it was jarring for me to see it constantly rain. But not only did it rain, the rain was warm. It felt surreal to me. I’m so used to raindrops being cold so I was so confused to feel hot in the rain.

The second thing that was different for me was the air. It is dry in my hometown. The main source of heat back at home comes from the sun. If you are not in the sun’s rays, you don’t feel so hot. So, I go under the shade or put on a jacket at night. Here, that is not the case. The heat is dispersed through the humidity. Going under the shade will not make a difference. You will still feel thick heat and sweat constantly. But at least the rays of the sun don’t feel as strong here.

Thus, this ends our report on the weather here. It’s definitely a change of pace!