chance of rain

We had a fairly dry day, today, though the air was oppressively heavy. I had to rush home after work to mow my eight foot high grass, and even then the edge of the incoming typhoon was creeping up behind me. It wasn’t pretty – I didn’t edge; I didn’t even stop to pick up the sticks or mushy fruits or anything – I just mowed everything. I finished to the accompaniment of tiny raindrops spattering and sizzling on the hot mower. It is really the first of the season, and only the edge is brushing up against the Kanto plain. But, already, the trees are thrashing about and the storm drains have drunk their fill. Last year, in October, we were assaulted by Super Typhoon Higos, the biggest typhoon to hit the Kanto plain in 50 years. I had huge limbs all over my yard; it took several truckloads to get rid of them all. Until the power went out, we watched Higos coverage on the Japanese TV. We had only been in Japan for two months at that point, so I understood nothing of what the weathermen were saying; the images were enough. It started to get bad around 1400, but the storm actually hit at about 2000. Train stations in Tokyo were overflowing with people trying to get out of the city before it struck and the authorities had to shut down the trains. Conductors were on the platforms shoving people into the already full trains to get the doors to close; I saw one conductor pick a schoolgirl up and throw her onto a train – I am not even sure it was her train. The rain was horizontal by that time. People have typhoon shutters on all of the houses and apartments. When we first moved here, I thought that everyone was either really security conscious or else everyone worked nights and needed dark rooms to sleep in the daytime. Last year, the typhoons seemed to roll through here at a rate of about one a week. Most of them are not too bad, just a lot of wind and rain. I like to lie in our bed and listen to the sound of the wind blowing through the trees and rain on the roof.

I do hope the cherries are OK, though. The blossoms made it through a chilly, windy spring – it would be a shame for all of the fruits to be blown off the trees in an early typhoon.

The local television station I like to watch played Star Wars last night – you simply have not lived until you’ve heard Obi Wan Kenobi say, “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for,” in Japanese. It was worth staying up until 2330.

It is a good idea to make sure your car windows are rolled all of the way up BEFORE the typhoon hits. 🙂