Summer in Kagawa, Japan

Healthy rice-paddies on a hot Kagawa day. 

Seeing as I wrote an article on my experiences of Winter in Japan a little while back, I thought it would be appropriate to also spend a little bit of time talking about the Summer. I've written a little bit here and there on the subject in other posts, but I feel like it would take a full blog post on the topic to really do it justice.

I'm afraid, however, that Summer here isn't much more pleasant than the Winter.

Summer in Kagawa can be... difficult.

Not the most positive of starts, I know, but there's several approximations that make it more than a bit hell-esque. For starters, the temperature is about the same as you would expect from the Devil's lair: a relentless onslaught of heat and humidity which seems to last for an eternity. The devil's minions are also clearly present in the form of gigantic insects and giant green spiders that torment and seemingly target the foreign population (yet fascinate and please the school kids).

Hyperbole aside, it is hot. Very hot.

• Heat and Humidity

The biggest challenge of Japanese Summer is quite simply the heat. According to my phone, the current temperature is 32°C, yet it feels far warmer than that because of the humidity in the air. Japan is an intensely humid country, and that contributes to a constant sweaty feeling throughout the summer months. The temperature is pretty much constant and only drops marginally in the evenings. It really is a heck of a challenge to stay hydrated, as you're sweating constantly and always in need of a glass of water. It goes some way to explaining why Japanese homes lack insulation (though, as I mentioned before, that causes serious inverse issues in the Winter, too).

Luckily, the handy air-con is on hand. Like in the Winter, I have this thing on pretty much constantly - though it is unfortunately consigned to one room. Normally I use it at 18°C, but unfortunately the heat typically builds up so much throughout the day that it can take a fair amount of time for the effects to be felt. In contrast, opening the window to try and cool the place down doesn't do much to help as the air coming inside is roasting and there isn't much of a breeze (though at least it freshens the air).

The Air-con is back online.

Supplementary to the air-con are a few other purchases that can be made. I recently picked up a fan for a very good price in my local Aeon Department Store. As my aircon is restricted to just one room, I often find myself blasting the fan into the kitchen when I'm in there preparing food for long periods of time. There are also dehumidifiers, which are far more expensive but very effective. When I visited Michael in Shizuoka last June, I was amazed at how much watch his managed to extract from the air - it looked like a litre in the space of a day.

 

My new fan (left) and a de-humidifier (right, image from here).

Michael had one of these in his place when I visited him in Shizuoka last year.

Traditional Japanese fans (uchiwa).

Of course, the old favourite in Japan is the hand-held fan (known as an uchiwa). These are not quite as common as you might expect during the Summer months, and I imagine its because they are often more ornamental than anything else. You do often see people waving paper equivalents, however, as they're often handed out while walking along the streets (usually these versions are plastered in advertising). They are very beautiful to look at and very pleasing to see when they are used.

• Cold Treats

If you're anything like me, you'll agree the best way to deal with the heat (short of a cold shower) is in a refreshing beverage. Thankfully, vending machines in Japan are plentiful and on almost every street corner. In the summer time these become absolutely essential. On the weekends, I can visit them around two or three times a day (if I'm out and around town and nowhere near a store). Obviously, it's slightly pricier than buying from a store (costing between around 100円 to 150円 on average), but in the summer its a price you cannot afford not to pay, and 120円 is the standard price, which will get you pretty much anything at most machines (that's around 80p for you UK JETs).

Vending machines everywhere.

So many options.

I'm pretty much an addict on the canned cold coffee. Even though cold coffee isn't such a big thing in the UK (probably because it's so damn cold over there), it really is refreshing in the heat. If you're British and you haven't tried an ice coffee yet, I'd recommend you get yourself to Japan and try one of these (a few do have a pretty high sugar content, though, so some are a bit too sweet).

Cold treats are incredibly popular throughout the Summer, and with good reason.

Another alternative of course is to pop into a convenience store (or supermarket) and pick up an ice-lolly or ice cream. These are abundant and everywhere in Japan, with some very nice varieties available (including a Magnum equivalent and a banana-milk flavoured ice). The soda-flavoured "Gari Gari-Kun" is an all time favourite, but my personal preference is for the watermelon ices that creatively include little chocolate chips in place of seeds. It's very refreshing and just looks aesthetically great.

Watermelon ice-poles!

My reprieve from the heat.

Chocolate is difficult to keep during the summer months because it melts so quickly. Mostly it's best to keep it indoors in a fridge and only remove it when about to eat. Carry it around town and it'll almost certainly turn into goop.

Fruit is also difficult to keep (especially bananas) as the heat makes it wilt rapidly, and occasionally small little flies can get in through the open windows (even with a gauze up) which will make short work of them. On one occasion, I bought an apple from the supermarket at around 9pm at night, leaving it on my breakfast table with an intention of eating it the next morning at breakfast. I picked it up not long after sunrise to discover the lower half had turned to mush and was covered in little holes that a fly had made. Again, the fridge is your best friend here, but you really do struggle with bananas as they go brown so damn quickly in there. Best recommendation is to only buy fruit on the same day you intend to eat it.

A special delicacy of Kagawa-ken is, of course, the Sanuki-Udon. I quite enjoy udon noodles, but really only when they're hot. However, cold noodles are very popular during the summer in Japan, and as such cold udon is consumed en masse by loads of people in Kagawa. Sadly, I can't really eat the stuff myself: the texture just feels off-putting. Might be worth a try for a one-off, though.

Cold udon? No, thanks.

(Image from here.)

• Schools and Summer Holidays

Katsuga Junior High School.

The schools I visit can become incredibly hot during the summer time. Like homes, the walls are designed to be very thin and lack insulation, but the humidity and heat is such that it doesn't make much of a difference, really. Windows are consistently open (though this does inevitably let all manner of bugs inside). The kids can visibly be a lot more tired during these months, and I find myself constantly sweating throughout the day and drinking a lot of water and cold ocha (Japanese tea). Some rooms come equipped with electric fans (though their range is pretty small) or air-con units. These help greatly but because many of the schools are quite old many rooms aren't equipped with these gadgets and typically teachers can be reluctant to use them.

The school swimming pools see a lot of action in the Summer time.

One benefit of summer is that students are given a lot of swimming classes, which I've never participated in but look like a lot of fun. In the intense heat, this would definitely be a welcome way to break up the day. I know if I was a student here that I would love these.

With regards to summer holidays, here we come to a huge cultural difference that you may find very surprising...

The school holidays in Japan aren't really holidays in the way that we in the Western world would conceive of them.

Basically, er, they're not really holidays.

Students participate in the sports clubs everyday.

In Japan, students and teachers still come to school every day throughout the Summer. While this might seem insane to most of us, it's the status quo over here. Students are often assigned homework to do throughout the holidays and are expected to participate in daily sports clubs either in the morning or afternoon. Teachers have a lot less work to do, and mostly just sit at their desks doing... stuff. Leave isn't automatically granted, and teachers typically need to take paid holidays to take days off (though of course, this being Japan, most teachers don't take their full allocation).

ALTs aren't exempt from this, and come to school to basically find work for themselves. Often times there really isn't much work to do, though a lot of ALTs work with some students to train them for the upcoming English speech contests which arrive at the start of the next semester. It can also be a good opportunity to prepare materials for the upcoming semester, though like Japanese teachers, many ALTs use this time to take their paid leave (which is very sensible as it avoids disrupting classes).

One nice thing is that, with school lunch not running, the teachers may often go for lunch together. I've had quite a few trips with various teachers to enjoy lunch together (typically udon), and they're a lovely way to spend time in the early afternoon.

It seemed bizarre to me when I first arrived in Takamatsu to sit at a desk when there is very little work to do, and to keep the school running when there aren't any classes, and I can't say my opinion on that has changed very much. Still, it's just the way it is. The atmosphere in these summer months is usually very relaxed, and teachers have a lot more flexibility with their time. It's not an unpleasant atmosphere.

• Bugs and other Monstrosities

Japanese Summer is beloved by all manner of beasties. Everyday you'll encounter countless insects and bugs crawling all over the place as soon as you've left your door (I've already mentioned the flies getting in and destroying my fruit).

Cicadas are everywhere in the summer months.

(Image from here.)

Most prominent in the Summer months are perhaps the cicadas which make one hell of a deafening noise. They constantly sing throughout the summer months; big, clumsy guys who make a very constantly loud noise which is audible constantly throughout the day. They aren't unpleasant, really, but they often jump out and surprise you. They're a lot cuter than most insects due to their big size and clumsy behaviour. You know Summer has started when you start to hear the cicadas throughout the day (eventually you just start to tune it out). Unfortunately, a lot of ALTs I know have complained about sitting under trees and being taken by surprise by cicada urine dropping on them. Whether or not those claims are true I have no idea.

Far more unsettling are the giant green spiders that are everywhere.

Visions of hell.

(Image from here.)

These green spiders are everywhere throughout the Summer months. They grow to a pretty big size (up to around the size of a palm), and they're so numerous that they cover almost every tree, plant and doorway. Looking up at a train station could well induce nightmares into the faint of heart, and they occasionally take up shop on some of the vending machines, too (which can give you quite a fright). I've heard conflicting reports as to whether or not they're dangerous or not but the colour scheme definitely suggests that they aren't something you want to mess with.

Often times they create giant webs that can stretch across big distances, which unsuspecting people can walk right into. Other times, their webs dangle overhead, and another looking up can see the silhouette of a large spider looking down at them from the sky. On the plus side, they probably help to keep away quite a lot of the bugs around here.

Typically these guys hang around until October, and trust me when I say they are everywhere (though currently they haven't quite fully grown yet).

Somewhat worryingly, I've also started to see a small blue and yellow sparkling lizard running around near my front door. It looks absolutely lethal and I've never seen anything like it before. Here's hoping it keeps a distance...

• Clear Skies and Sunshine

The ferry terminal at Sunport, Takamatsu.

If you're Scottish like me (or are from anywhere in Britain), you'll be familiar with Summer being a typically inconsistent season which is prone to the occasional burst of rain and overcast skies. Not that Summer is always dreary, but it can certainly be haphazard and there can be occasional long stretches without much in the way of sunshine.

Thankfully, one of the advantages of Japanese summer is absolutely gorgeous sunshine. It's fairly consistent almost every day, and Kagawa simply looks glorious bathed in the sunshine.

Not a cloud in the sky.

With the intense sunlight obviously comes a long of sunburn. Luckily for me I don't tend to burn so easily, but plenty of ALTs turn into beetroots during the summer months. Sun cream is probably necessary for long exposure (though I typically don't wear it as often as I should, which is admittedly very silly and probably a bit dangerous of me). Many Japanese women are known to carry umbrellas during the summer month, or otherwise wear very long sleeves, in order to avoid tanning; as you may know, pale skin can often be fetished in Japan (which is bizarre to me, since I know plenty of Scottish girls who are constantly trying to get a tan).

Japanese woman can often be seen carrying umbrellas to stay out of the sun.

Image from here.

So really, it's a trade off. You have beautiful scenery with almost no clouds around, but you're gonna have to accept you'll cook for it.

A visual metaphor for the sweat running down my back.

(Yeuch.)

• Festivals

And of course, there are the summer festivals.

If there's any major redeeming quality to summers in Japan, it's these.

Sakaide Matsuri, 2012.

Dancing at Takamatsu Matsuri, 2012.

In Shikoku, there are three major festivals that I've made my way to over the last couple of years; Sakaide Matsuri, Takamatsu Matsuri and Awa Odori (in Tokushima, the next prefecture to Kagawa). There are also the much smaller festivals such as the Shionoe Firefly Festival which take place on a more local level. Each of these has it's own unique feel and events. Of course, these are all accompanied by the traditional layout of festival stalls, and encourage a healthy attitude of merriment (and perhaps a little bit of drinking on the side).

I'll be writing at length about the Summer Festivals I've visited in Kagawa in other blog posts, so expect to see more information on those soon.

• Final Thoughts

As you can see, Summer is a month of mixed blessings. Beautiful weather, but frankly the heat and humidity is so intense than it kills all enthusiasm for it. Many Japanese people I speak to concede that Summer is one of their least favourite seasons, and I tend to agree (though I'd say it's about equal to Winter in that regard, as both are quite difficult in their own ways).

Fish swim in the pond at Katsuga Junior High School.

As I say, the summer festivals go a very long way to making up for the challenges the season entails, and some of the best things to do while in Japan. Sweating aside, it's well worth being in Japan at this time of year just to see (or participate in) those amazing spectacles.

And if you can get past the heat (which is difficult), there is honestly a tremendous amount of beauty to admire.

Sunset on the coast at Sunport, Takamatsu.

Angie stands on the beach near Kozai at sunset.

As an additional note: many Japanese people seem to believe that Japan is unique in having four seasons. I've often been asked questions such as; "How many seasons does Scotland have?". I'm always pretty perplexed by this. I always understood that pretty much everywhere on Earth had four seasons. 

I'm not sure where they're getting this from, but it's very peculiar.

Shionoe Firefly Festival, Takamatsu

First published: 5th July 2013

On Saturday 8th June, Angie and I decided to head to the Shionoe Firefly Festival, held in Takamatsu's mountainous rural area of Shionoe.

Shionoe Firefly Festival.

Fireflies! Which... I didn't actually see in the woods.
Image nicked from National Geographic.

The celebration is held every year at the start of Summer to celebrate the appearance of fireflies in the local forests. Attendants enjoy a festival atmosphere as well as walking into the local woods to see the fireflies in all their glory in the dusk and night-time. Personally, I think it's a lovely idea for a local festival.

It was sort of a last-minute decision to go. We knew many JETs would be going, but we were both busy in the morning with various things, and we were concerned about not being able to make it back in time as the last bus was unknown to us. With my shakuhachi class scheduled for the next morning, we were concerned about getting trapped there overnight; even though many JETs were going and we would have easily been able to join them, I was keen not to miss my lesson. Luckily, Angie managed to discover the elusive bus timetable at the station while in town. With only an hour to spare, I made my way into town to join her and we headed off to Shionoe.

The bus trip to the festival took about an hour or so, heading further up into the hills as we went. My last experience travelling Shionoe hadn't gone so well: I'd attempted to attend a barbecue at local ALT and US citizen Justin Bussies' house. Getting off at the wrong bus stop late at night, I ended up lost on the long mountain roads with low phone battery in near pitch-black darkness. It was only by the generous efforts of Justin (who came and rescued me via car) that I made it to the event at all (albeit several hours late). I was naturally a tad dubious about returning to the area with these memories, but I was interested to see it during the day time without the intimidating noises of the evening forest. Oh, and with people this time.

The scenic bridge leading to the festival.

Local kids play in the water while hunting for fish.

When we got off the bus, we headed straight towards the festival. Due to the timetable of the final bus - and with no other transportation home secured! - we only had two hours (!) with which to explore everything on foot. We made our way from the bus stop to a small bridge which ran over a river. Everyone seemed to be heading into the festival from this direction, and we decided to follow - stopping to take photographs of the many kids and families playing in the water. I felt a real desire to go swimming, too - it was a hot day, and I would have loved the refreshment! There were no other JETs in sight, and we realised we had arrived far ahead of almost everyone else.

The entrance to the festival...

...and a lot of candy-floss.

Making our way into the festival, we say the usual fare. Food stalls a-plenty, as well as plenty of places to buy all manner of trinkets (ranging from toys to a video-game stall that sold consoles and games). Shionoe is actually famous as an onsen (or 'hot-spring') area, and walking in I immediately noticed a number of onsen for public use (though, of course, Angie and I would not have the time to visit). What was noticeable was a foot onsen just by the entrance, which - despite wearing socks and shoes without a towel - I decided I had to try. Luckily, it was so hot that my feet dried almost instantly anyway!

Bathing my feet in the foot onsen!

Heading a little further in, Angie and I stopped to sample food at several of the stalls. We made a very pleasant discovery when we found Justin Bussies himself cooking at one of the stands! Justin is something of a super-ALT; he's a world-traveller who happens to be really engaged in his local community. I highly recommend reading some of his blog to learn about his multitude of adventures - he certainly does a lot! I can confirm after sampling his food that it was actually very nice indeed.

A festival stall worker prepares food.

Local US ALT Justin Bussies works his magic.

You can read his blog post on his experiences here.

A strange crystalised-syrup on Angie's strawberries.

Certainly not the texture we were expecting.

A few more familiar faces began to arrive in the form of fellow ALTs, including Julia Collie and Mary Than Vo who had opted to cycle all the way to Shionoe. Personally, I thought that was mental in the heat we were experiencing.

Musicians perform on the stage area.

A lot of anime references that I didn't recognize.

With only one hour left before we would have to travel back, it became apparent that the evening would not get dark enough quickly for Angie and I to see fireflies in the wild. Angie and I opted to make a point of seeing the fireflies in a nearby darkened tent instead, which had been set up with nets of fireflies inside for visitors to see the fireflies during the day-time. We made our way to the tent... only to be met with a thirty-minute queue. Drat! Knowing it would be a bit of a rush, we made our way to the back of the queue to wait.

Waiting at the back of the viewing queue.

A local brochure on the fireflies ("ホタル" or "hotaru" in Japanese).

After waiting for a pretty significant amount of time, we finally made our way to the front of the queue. We walked inside the darkened tent, myself armed with my Canon 60D optimised for low-light settings to try and capture some shots of the fireflies. The interior of the tent was immensely gratifying; at first, I couldn't see much, but then all of a sudden the fireflies started to glow with a green light in front of my eyes. It was a great spectacle... which made it all the worse that I couldn't get a shot of it with my camera. The tent was just too dark and I accidentally messed up the camera settings, becoming impossible to fix in the dark. I decided instead just to watch the spectacle. It was the first time I'd ever seen fireflies, and it really was a charming experience. You'll just have to take my word on that (unless you've seen them yourself, of course).

Before we actually made it into the tent, we were greeted by a bizarre makeshift robot that stood outside to greet visitors. Seemingly voiced by someone with a microphone in hiding, the robot greeted us with a distorted "Hello" and tried to speak basic English phrases to us in a heavily accented robotic pitch. It was an absolutely surreal yet hilarious experience.

This cheeky chappy is awfie chatty.

Is it just me, or is his head composed of two colanders?

We stepped outside to run into a whole group of ALTs that had congregated nearby. Most of them had only just arrived, planning to spend the evening in Shionoe. Of course, for Angie and I, it simply wasn't an option. With great regret, we said our hellos and farewells before making our way back towards the bus stop.

To compound our misfortune, the last bus scheduled to take us home was thirty minutes late. We sat at the bus stop watching everyone else enjoy themselves while the evening began to set it. I yearned to go back and enjoy the festival, but - alas! It was not to be.

Festival-goers enjoy the early evening atmosphere.

On the plus side, I'm planning to schedule this in for next year, and to stay the night on the next trip without plans on the following day. I would love to see the fireflies in the forest at night. I got to see some fireflies, which was the point of the festival after-all. For what it was, the festival itself was a fun little afternoon out.

Dancing in Takamatsu Matsuri 2012

Dancing in Takamatsu Matsuri!

With Matthew Wright (left), Lily Bascombe (middle) and Angie Reynolds (far right).

Following my visit to Takamatsu Matsuri the previous evening (to witness some of the dancing), I found myself the very next evening back at the festival - only this time as a participant!

The Takamatsu City ALTs (including the new ALTs who had just arrived) combined with other workers from the City Office to create a dancing team that would parade through the streets for the festival - and I was a part of it!

The Takamatsu ALT dancing team (lead by Hiramatsu-Sensei, front and center)!
(Back row, from left) Yaseen, Saad, Luke, Rainer, Ryan, John, Thomas, and Matthew.
(Middle row, from left) Edwin, myself (Gavin), Julia, Angie, Lily, and Mary.

Practicing our routine at Takamatsu City Office.

We met at City Office in the early afternoon to begin practicing our routine. Each ALT was assigned a happi - a type of loose Japanese clothing for the summer - as well as a golden headband. We were also each given a fan which was to be used during the dance routine. We spent the next few hours rehearsing the routine, lead by English ALTs Ryan Keeble and Matt Wright (who were two of the few in the room who had previously practiced it). It was the blind leading the blind, but we stumbled on.

I got pretty hot in that room.

Before heading out, I passed my DSLR camera to Rainer's friend Richard who happened to be visiting Takamatsu for the summer months. As he wasn't an ALT and couldn't participate, Richard was assigned as the evening's photographer. I'm very grateful to his efforts, as without him on the job we wouldn't have any pictures of our dancing!

Rehearsing at the rear of Takamatsu City Office.

We made our way to the rear entrance of the City Office, where we had a final half hour practice formally lead by an instructor. With the routine just starting to stick, we were all a little nervous, but were met with a rallying speech from the group leaders. Before we knew it, we were marching out into the streets, ready and waiting in an alleyway to parade onto the central road of Takamatsu - along with hundreds of other dancers from other groups.

 

Ready to go.

Running to the streets.

The sun went down, the lights of the city came on, and we found ourselves running out into the street. Then dancing.

Our team heads out!

And, we're off!

It was an intense experience. The dance itself wasn't too difficult, but the intense summer heat and humidity was very difficult to perform in. Within minutes, our team was sweating all over, yet keeping pace with the moves of the dance - all while moving forward in a ring around the town. We danced to the famous Ichigo Maida song, an iconic song often heard around Takamatsu (especially in the lengthy shotengai shopping streets during the summer). Despite the heat, we pushed through - although I'd be lying if I said we all performed perfectly. There were quite a few mistakes in our routine, but nevermind!

 Our group pushes on.

I was dancing in front of Angie Reynolds. As I mentioned before, I'd been trying to get her attention since she'd arrived, since I was attracted to her. A couple of times she bumped into me while dancing, and I feigned mock annoyance at her, thinking this was endearing. Unfortunately, she read it wrong and thought I was genuinely angry at her. Oh dear. (Again, I can only say this since it worked out and I'm dating her - though the cringe factor still exists while typing this. It's worth noting, though.)

I look a tad perplexed as I try to copy the dance moves around me.

Around the halfway point, we stopped for a quick break of cold ocha (Japanese tea). When I say quick, though, I mean quick. We were stopped for only around a minute or so before we were back on the streets, performing our way back up towards the city office as we looped back on ourselves. The parade needed to be kept flowing, and so with only a tiny break we were back in motion again. As I say, intense.

We made our way up the street, until just a short distance away from our starting position (by City Office) the music came to a halt. The performance had ended, and we were free to break rank and leave.

It's over!

Saad enjoys the reprieve.

We made our way back to the hall for our debriefing and several cold drinks. After grabbing our things from upstairs, we made our way out into the central park, where we got to enjoy some of the other festivities of the evening and some more festival food. It was a great way to end what had been a tiring (yet fulfilling) day.

The team unwind following their performance.

We moved on to the festival below.

While the physical strain of dancing while sweating in intense humidity isn't something I'll be rushing out to do again, this was definitely one of the most iconic and authentic experiences I'd had of experiencing Japanese culture. To participate in such an event first-hand really was quite something, and could only have been achieved by being here in Japan on the JET programme. It was a wonderful and memorable experience.

Feeling a tad moist.