Rainy season in Japan: A Survival Guide

How to Keep Upbeat and Happy During the Rainy Season in Japan: A Survival Guide


The rainy season has begun here in Japan and anyone who lives here or is thinking of moving here should know that every year, for a few weeks, we are locked in a world of constant rain and general wet misery. This bleak and dreary weather can often lead some to become depressed. If you follow my quick and easy tips though, you’ll never feel gloomy again during Japan’s rainy season!



1. Wear Hawaiian shirts everyday. It may be gloomy outside, but it will be a party everywhere you go!

2. Have loads of electric fans stationed throughout your apartment to dry the clothes you have to hang inside (no dryers here).


3. Install a large inflatable palm tree in the corner of your living room. It will give you that tropical feeling you so long for. My wife doesn’t know I plan to do this and she probably won’t like it too much, but I know my son sure will!



4. Booze! Lots of booze may help you forget this dreary period of the year. Go on a bender until rainy season is over. You’ll be just like a beautiful butterfly emerging from your drunken cocoon in the summer!

5. Quite your job and move to a desert region. Once the rainy season is over, move back to Japan and beg for your job back (it might just work).

6. If you are a runner like me, don’t let the rain discourage you. People in Japan may not run in the rain, but you sure did back home in Canada, America, U.K etc. Don’t forget your soaking wet running past!


7. Wear sunglasses everywhere you go and complain about how bright it always is! Convince yourself that it isn’t cloudy! Young women all around Japan wear large sunglasses inside, outside, during the daytime and nighttime....you'll blend right in!

8. Always keep the lights on in your apartment and buy several extra lamps. Make your apartment as bright as possible. Sure, it won’t be good for your power bill, but you’ll feel more cheery!

9. Drink heavily….ah wait…I already mentioned that one.

10. Only eat food from India, Jamaica, Korea and Mexico. Spicy food will warm you up. With that increased body temperature you might be fooled into believing it isn’t so damp and crappy outside.


Follow these tips and you’re sure to have a far more enjoyable rainy season here in Japan.

Also, don’t forget to take them with a grain of salt ;)


You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Typhoons, Turtles and Kobe, Japan

Another week finished and i finally have a day off. For many of those who may follow this blog or my video blogs on You Tube, you may now that I work six days a week. This is a situation of my own choice, but the extra money is very helpful. Hopefully, next year, I won't have to work a part time job and will have more free time on the weekends. Luckily though, with my current job, I have a lot of days of and some good holiday time.

Tyhphoon Melor came and went and it sounds as if the only place in this part of Japan that had some serious damage was Nagoya. A city that is traditionally prone to flooding, they had it happen to them again. I saw some surprising images on NHK of Nagoya Station flooding quickly while JR employees made a futile attempt to block the deluge with a few sandbags.

The typhoon sure sounded a lot worse than it really was. I suppose that's because I live on the top floor of a tall apartment building on a man-made island in the middle of Kobe harbour. there is very little protection here and the wind really lashes us. It was also made worse by the fact that Japanese buildings are normally not insulated. there is no insulation in the walls and the windows are always single-paned glass. The wind whistled loudly through the windows and rattled the heck out of them. When we got up on Thursday morning, we just discovered a lot of leaves on the ground as well as a lot of garbage that had blown around. That was it!



On a cuter note, while out the other morning and wandering through a large grassy field, I found this little critter. One of the few moments in life I wasn't carrying my video camera. I took a few pictures of the baby turtle, just before I released it into a nearby pond.


Gosh golly! What a cute little chap! I was really surprised at how sharp their little claws are. I suppose they need them for climbing up rocks and things.