今日から梅雨;今日からあじさい Hydrangea Blooming Marks the Start of Rainy Season

June 11, 2009: 季節 Seasons

長野では、梅雨は今日から始まるそうです。予定通り、雨が降りました。そして、予定通り、亀清の庭のあじさいが咲きました。

感心しています。新幹線から梅雨のあじさいまで、日本では、予定がしっかり守られています。

もう1つな有り難い事は、日本では梅雨がやっと一ヶ月で終わる。私の地元の「梅雨」は大体1月1日から始まって、終わりは・・・12月31日だ。つまり、シアトルは一年中に雨が多い町です。雨が多くて、憂鬱になる方もいる(うちの妻もその1人でした)が、私にとっては軽い雨の日は落ち着きます。その雨のお蔭で緑がいっぱいあるから。(もちろん、ザザと降るといやですけど・・・)

Today is the "official" start of the "tsuyu" rainy season in Nagano. As if on schedule, the hydrangea in Kamesei's garden started blooming today.

I'm always amazed how everything in Japan seems to run on such a tight schedule -- everything from the shinkansen bullet trains to our garden's hydrangea blooming for tsuyu!

One other thing for which I'm grateful in Japan is that tsuyu only lasts for about 1 month. Back in my home town of Seattle, rainy season started around the first of January, and runs through, well, the last day of December. That's right -- it's rainy all year long. For some people, all the rain got depressing (my wife Mari put up with it for the 11 years we lived there). But for me, I find a light rain fall to be relaxing. The rain makes for lots of greenery around. (Of course, I don't like downpours, but Seattle's typical mist-like rain always felt comforting.)





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