©1987 Lawrence I. Charters and Catherine Hall
Off Duty, June 1987, pp. 26-26b.
June means the start of the rainy season, but with a little planning, there’s no reason why damp days should be dull.
June is the start of baiu, Japan’s rainy season. Like many things in Japanese life, baiu means more than an excess of rain: it contributes in its own wet way to the entire Japanese culture. The beginning and end of the rains are the subject of intense study, leading to solemn pronouncements on NHK’s evening news that “Today is the start (or finish} of the rainy season.” Americans, skeptics to the end, find such announcements almost funny-but then wake the next day to find the streets swarming with umbrellas.
Many aspects of Japan’s daily life can be traced back to the country’s heavy rains and frequent earthquakes. Wheeled transportation was not used in Japan until the nineteenth century because of the rugged terrain, frequent washouts and quake-triggered landslides. The common people walked everywhere, while the wealthy rode in shoulder-carried palanquins and high-ranking warriors rode on horseback.
Sake casks, denoting wealth and community support, outside a shrine. Photo by Lawrence I. Charters, scanned from print.
Even today, most Japanese homes have a genkan, a small area just inside the front door, for cleaning off and removing footwear before stepping up onto the tatami-covered floor. This area, incidentally, is still considered technically “outside,” even though it is within the home. More than one American has been shocked to find a door-to-door salesman standing in the genkan, asking to be invited “inside” the house.
Except for ceremonial purposes, carts and carriages were hardly used up until almost the time of the automobile. It simply wasn’t practical to carry something in a cart if you had to spend half the trip pulling the vehicle out of the mud. Japanese streets, and even highways, were usually wide enough for two horses to pass-and no more. This legacy is still apparent today, as Japanese streets are incredibly narrow.
Heavy rain and earthquakes mean that some fences need extra support. Photo by Lawrence I. Charters, scanned from print.
During the rainy season the scarcity of space in Japan becomes almost unbearable as crowds huddle under awnings to escape the downpour, or pack into crowded train or subway cars. If you’ve always thought this crowding unnecessary, consider this: in 1986, a section of Tokyo’s Ginza had an assessed tax value of ¥15.6 million per square meter, which was only a third of the estimated selling price. Buying a plot of land large enough for a single-person futon (Japanese bed) would cost over $650,000 for the land alone, something to think about as you watch the rain fall and curse the narrow, claustrophobic streets.
Fortunately, along with the rain, mold and mildew, there is also warmth, occasional brilliant sunshine, and the start of the summer festival season. Two particularly noteworthy events are the month-long Itako Ayame Matsuri (ltako Iris Festival), held east of Tokyo on the canals near Lake Kasumigaura, and the Sanno Matsuri (Sanno Festival), held at Tokyo’s Hie Shrine on June 10-16. The Sanno Matsuri is a particularly good choice for visiting, as it is large, spectacular, and won’t be held again until 1989.
Yet some of the best festivals are not the big national events, but the small, neighborhood variety. You’ll have to do a bit of detective work to uncover dates, times and places, since almost every temple or shrine has at least a token festival, and even a small town has dozens of temples and shrines. These festivals are a grand opportunity to check out the local neighborhood, sample special foods, try the local sake, and collect inexpensive, exotic trinkets for friends and enemies back home.
For some, the start of summer is also the start of vacation season, and Camp Zama’ s tours office is offering a splendid tour of Bangkok and Hong Kong from June 20-29 for ¥115,000. This price includes hotel accommodations and transportation to two of the world’s most extraordinary cities.
June and July are also the time to see Tokyo Disneyland. On the weekends, Disneyland has an incredible “Electric Light Parade,” with floats decorated with literally hundreds of thousands of lights parading around to synthesized music, all followed by a fireworks display. These parades are also held in August, but this is in Japan’s vacation season, and you’ve never really seen a long line until you’ve been in Tokyo Disneyland in August. Every one of Japan’s 50 million kids is lined up waiting to get into Space Mountain.
July is the start of the season for climbing Fuji-san, Japan’s tallest mountain, and you should start now by taking every chance you can get to use the stairs instead of the elevator. Yokosuka’ s tours office is planning a climb every weekend, starting July 4-5, and Kamiseya will be having a “challenge climb” on July 18-19.
You should also make plans now for the July 15-17 Gion Festival in Kyoto. This is, without question, one of the most awesome festivals held anywhere, and takes place in one of the most civilized cities on the globe. As it is one of Japan’s major events, competition is fierce, so sign up now, or not at all.
For something completely different, the Tokyo Youth Hostel Association is planning a summer camp for about 150 kids aged 7-12, and this year they’d like some children from the “international” community. The children stay four days in traditional Japanese log cabins at a
camp in Gumma Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, at a cost of ¥28,000, which includes transportation from Tokyo. This is a unique opportunity for American children to live and play with Japanese kids in a summer camp atmosphere. For details, contact John Eckstein at 03-268-8105 or write: John Eckstein, Tokyo Youth Hostel Association, Hoken Kaikan 1-2, Sadohara-cho, lchigaya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162.
Sure, June can be damp, but it’s only as dreary as you allow it to be. There are plenty of ways to put your Off Duty hours to good use.