Gathering Before the Typhoon

Clouds gathered and so did crows! These photos make a panoramic view of our neighborhood at 5:30 P.M. Look closely. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Crows! I see 14 in this photo. One was sitting on the balcony but flew away.

Crows!

Crows!

Crow!

It was raining a lot. They sat in the rain and traded places once in a while. I wouldn't say they were playing. They looked pretty miserable.

These photos were taken with a Panasonic Lumix 10x.

Dragons in the Sky

Lots of dragons in the sky yesterday at sunset. Look at the shape of some of the clouds. This is the view from our roof garden toward the northeast. Looks like fire in the clouds. (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)

This is southeast. The skies were clear above our house! I had a rooftop view of other people's weather.

Outlaw

This person is breaking the law. A new ordinance in our district forbids using an umbrella while riding a bicycle. So what can you do?

Wear a plastic suit and hat!

Typhoon Man Yi

A big typhoon has hit Japan. There has been damage in areas outside Tokyo. In west Tokyo where we live, there has been some rain and a little wind. The skies cleared a little at sunset. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

There was sun for a short time.

There really hasn't been much rain in our area. There was enough to leave some standing between the rows of corn in the field behind our house.

Click to enlarge to see the raindrops in the puddle. Click on the label "rain" to see the summer raindrop design used for cloth and paper.

During typhoons, we close the shutters, drink tea, and watch the weather channel. (We close shutters at night, too.) The biggest danger of typhoons in Tokyo is wind. Things take flight.

Kids Web Japan--typhoon

Prepared Anyway

This month was supposed to be the rainy season. There wasn't much rain in Tokyo in June 2007, but this shop was prepared. Some shops put plastic curtains up to protect their wares. Click to enlarge.

Bugs and Water

The rains came. Rather, drizzle came. This is supposed to be the rainy season! These are hydrangea leaves covered in spider webs and raindrops.

Click to enlarge and you may be able to see the spider. It hid so this is the only picture I could get.

This little ladybug didn't seem bothered by the camera or the rain.

This doodle bug or roly-poly wasn't bothered either. Doodle bugs over here are quite audacious! They are slow to roll up. Papa calls them "toilet bugs". They do clean up after the dogs. I never noticed that before. I used to play with them when I was a kid in the United States. We leave these alone.

Dehumidifiers

You have probably seen dehumidifiers like the one on the left. This one was from a Pokemon cake.

This is a close-up of the one on the right. This picture shows the inside of a bottle cap. This cap was on a bottle of vitamins. Inside the cap is a plastic case that has holes in it. In the plastic case, there is a tablet that will absorb moisture from the bottle.

Umbrella Stand

It was a dark and rainy day. And it was cold, too. So, no pictures outside. Click on this one to get a better look.

I took this picture the other day. This umbrella stand was at a small station. It looks like a rocket, doesn't it? The umbrellas were 500 yen. Shopkeepers put these cheap umbrellas in a bin outside their shops when it starts to rain. They usually sell them for 300 yen. I guess this Space Age display was expensive.

Things that Brightened a Rainy Day

No, I haven't run out of things to post. This is the second time I have posted a picture of a rain chain (see April). This one, however, is a close-up and the chain actually has rain splattering down it. It was a nice view from the window of Denny's, a family restaurant.





Before going into the restaurant, we passed through two sets of doors. Both were plastered with signs congratulating the birth of the new prince. It made us smile.





Before going to Denny's, we went to the hospital. This picture was taken at the hospital's parking garage. At the exit, there was a bin of umbrellas for visitors or patients. We used two of them to walk to the main building. Another bin was at the entrance for us to leave the umbrellas. The name of the hospital was written on each umbrella in bright purple marker. It was a nice service.


This is a close-up of the umbrellas.





This person was well-prepared for the rain today. It would be nice to go out to a dry bicycle, wouldn't it?

Tera Tera Bozu

Someone at this chopstick shop put up a tera tera bozu wishing for good weather for the festival tomorrow.

Tanabata

Today was Tanabata. Here is our Tanabata decoration on our porch. There have been branches of bamboo outside homes and shops everywhere for about a week. My son had one in his elementary school classroom. Now that I think of it, there weren't many outside homes. Perhaps people put them inside the entry hall. The weather has been pretty unpredictable lately.

The branches, called sasa , are sold at flower shops. People decorate them with handmade paper decorations. They also write wishes on strips of paper. The branches are usually put in a container of water to keep them fresh. Jiji used to burn everything promptly the next day, but there are now city laws against it. Now we throw it all away. As you may remember, we have a garbage day when we put out burnable items.



I took this picture above of a branch in the hallway of the elementary school when I visited. It ended up decorated in a classroom.



This was outside a community center.




This was at a shopping center. They had already set up shops but were setting up games for tomorrow's matsuri or festival.




Kids Web Japan--information about tanabata

Kids Web Japan--story of tanabata

Closet Dehumidifier

These are a dehumidifiers that we put in closets here. The dehumidifier on the left is an old one. It has a plastic blue grate I guess to protect the thin paper top. Its bottom section is now full of water.



The one on the right is new. I will pull off the silvery cover to expose the paper on top. Then I'll put it in a clothes closet. It will absorb the water from the air in the closet. It is divided into two sections by a plastic shelf that has slits like a seive. The top is filled with Na and Ca granules. (Do you know what that is? No? Look it up!) The bottom is empty. As water is absorbed, the granules dissolve and the water goes into the bottom section.



Here is the old one after I've poured out the water and cleaned out the granules. Actually, they had become a hardened mass. We have to wash some of our garbage here and put it into the appropriate garbage bag. Plastic goes in one and paper in another. I put most of this in the bag for questionable, broken and messy items.

Water, Water Everywhere

It is officially the rainy season. It seems like it's been raining or cloudy since October. It was raining really hard when the children went off to school this morning so I thought it was time to show these Japanese water patterns.

You see these and other patterns on narrow strips of very lightweight cotton material. They are used for tying around the forehead perhaps as a sweat band, but are worn as part of festival wear. The patterns are also used on towels, fans and yukata, the summer kimono.


Water ring. This is a bird's-eye view of a raindrop hitting a puddle. When was the last time you watched a raindrop fall? My children and I walk everywhere we go. During the rainy season we see this all the time (when we look down). Our garden was one big puddle this morning, but the water disappeared before I had time to go out to take a picture.





Waves. This is a common pattern for summertime. It looks cool. Usually the white is whiter.






Wave Spray. I saw this translation at a department store. This is a common pattern, too.

Wishing for a Sunny Day

There must be something important at this kindergarten tomorrow. The elementary school is having their Sports Day so maybe this school is having theirs, too. Why do I think so? See the white things hanging in the window? They are tera tera bozu made like the ghosts we make out of Kleenex. Tera tera bozu are hung in the window when you want a sunny day. So, before a picnic or an important outdoor event children sometimes hang these in the window so it won't rain.

Notice the shoes outside. This classroom opens onto the playground. Children and their teacher take their shoes off before going inside. The potted plants outside are tomato plants.

Note: I may change this photo later with one that shows the tera tera bozu better. After school, Little Brother said his class made some today, too.

Umbrella Bags

Here is something incredibly important for rainy days. These are placed outside the entrances of stores. There are long, narrow plastic bags hanging from hooks. Customers put them on their wet umbrellas. They can then carry them into the store without getting everything wet. The used plastic bags are tossed in the bin as customers leave the store.

Small shops usually have an umbrella stand to leave wet umbrellas outside by the door. Train stations need these bags. Our local station doesn't have them. It's miserable to shake out your umbrella and then carry it dripping onto the train. We have a heavy plastic umbrella bag that stays in the car. I need one of those for my purse.

Rain Protection

April showers are supposed to bring May flowers, but they are already blooming in Tokyo. These are azaleas which are pretty hardy flowers. White ones, though, can get bruised by constant rain. A gardener is trying to protect them by putting this umbrella over them. I've seen this done for peonies. I haven't seen any in bloom yet. As you can see by the reflection, the sun came out a little today. Exactly at the time I took this picture.

Rain Chain

See the metal thing hanging at the entrance of this house? It looks like a chain of badminton birdies. It's a rain chain. Or at least that's what I call it. Rain trickles down it from the roof. Not all houses have them. I've seen water cascade down one. It was raining so hard it looked like a bubbling water fountain. Of course, I was drenched standing there watching.