Stepping outside in Tokyo these days is like walking into a brick wall. The humid air clings to you like wrapping film around a sushi roll, and you wonder if Japan has secretly relocated to the equator overnight. However, Google Maps insists we’re still in the same spot. So, there can only be one explanation: Summer has arrived! 35 degrees Celsius for the last couple of days, and judging by the forecast, this is just the warm-up!
Technically we are supposed to be in the middle of rainy season, which in the Tokyo area typically lasts from early June to the middle of July, marking the transition from spring to summer and bringing with it high humidity and precipitation, often with either light rain or heavy downpours. Real summer usually doesn’t kick in until late July with the peak of the heat in early to mid August.
In Switzerland, summers often play hard to get. It’s not unusual for May or June to bring early heatwaves, and when July (and the school holiday) arrives, the Swiss weather shrugs, ‘Eh, I’ll be wet and cool this year.’
Case in hand: 2024, where the weather has been changeable, unseasonably cool and very wet for weeks, and people are meanwhile desperate for more stable and warmer weather. If you ask me, they might be better of packing a bag and heading south to Italy or Spain - which is what many are undoubtedly doing, for very obvious reasons!
So while Swiss summers are very much hit and miss, in Japan you can be certain of one thing: The heat will come, and along with it, the humidity!
Just last week we had a visitor from Singapore at our office. Coming from a subtropical country with year-round heat, one would think he should feel right at home here during the summer. Instead, he looked more like a fish out of (hot) water, flabbergasted about the sauna-like conditions outside.
While Switzerland does get heat waves (and ‘thanks’ to climate change, in increasing frequency), it comes without the humidity we get here. Nevertheless, temperatures in the mid-thirties can easily bring things to a standstill. Swiss folks wilt at 30°C. Train tracks buckle, air conditioners (where existing!) throw tantrums, and bleary-eyed people stagger around like zombies, not having been able to get any sleep during the night, as air conditioning in private homes is extremely rare.
In Japan, 30°C is just a light warm-up.
Consider this: Switzerland’s official threshold for a ‘tropical night’ is 20°C. In Japan, that’s a chilly spring morning. Here they define a tropical night like a boss, at 25°C. But with that level now being consistently exceeded for 2-3 months throughout summer, they may want to reconsider and adjust it upwards...
And despite the intense heat (and humidity), Japan continues to function normally: Trains still run strictly on time (only earthquakes, typhoons and suicides being able to disrupt their schedule) and everyone goes about their business as usual. Just one visible difference: Women walking in the street wielding parasols like magical shields against UV rays, and others reverting to technology in the shape of battery-powered mini-fans, fighting a losing battle like tiny windmills.
BBQs in 36°C and 80% humidity? No problem. It may feel like grilling in a sauna, but it undoubtedly keeps the beer industry happy!
Kids playing baseball in the blistering midday heat? What’s wrong with that? After all, it’s quite common to send kids to school in shorts during winter blizzards, because it ‘toughens them up’. The slight difference being that wearing shorts in January will not lead to heat stroke...
Thankfully, for those not wanting to risk their health or life in the brutal Tokyo heat, there are plenty of air-conditioned places. But those come with their own challenges.
You see, whenever you step into a corporate building, it’s as if you’ve wandered into the Arctic Circle. The air is chilled down to such a low level that you wouldn’t be surprised to see a penguin peeking around the very next corner.
The government, in its pledge to minimise energy consumption and limit adverse health effects, advises building owners to set the AC at a balmy temperature, but more often than not, they don’t heed that advice and instead turn offices into a walk-in freezer.
And despite a government-supported ‘cool summer’ campaign, which encourages office workers to dress casually, you will always find members of the ‘business etiquette’ brigade, strutting around in long-sleeved shirts, jackets and ties, while women clad in cardigans huddle together, trying to fend off hypothermia.
On those days when I work in the office rather than from home, I have mastered the art of frequently escaping the chill, slipping outside for a breath of fresh air - well, more like a gasp of shock...
If you have been paying attention, you will have noticed that I mentioned earlier that the big summer heat is not due to arrive until later in July, once rainy season has ended. So why the heat now merely days into July?
Well, due to climate change, weather patterns are simply not playing by the rules anymore. The last couple of years saw an unusually brief or almost non-existent rainy season and all-time record heat, and this year seems to follow that 'new normal'.
Not only did the rainy season start considerably later than usual, but after a mere week, it seemed to have come to an abrupt halt, making way for clear skies, sunshine and intense heat. The jury is still out as to whether it has just taken a temporary break, or whether it has already thrown in the towel. I think the latter is the far more likely scenario.
But with weather forecasters being cautious, and not willing to put their reputation on the line, they are reluctant to make the official announcement to declare the rainy season over.
Poor souls. These days, forecasting the weather is more like fortune telling with a broken crystal ball.
And so here we stand in this early summer heat. But hey, as one beverage manufacturer puts it: ‘Sweat is beautiful’! 😁
Commentaires