The Summer Reign of Mei-Yu

It's wet in Tokyo. Excessively wet. But that is somewhat to be expected during Rainy Season, a time of year that defines Japan with a total of five seasons rather than four. Stretching from the Tibetan Plateau to the Pacific waters east of Japan, the Mei-Yu weather front slowly drifts north from Okinawa through Kyushu and central Honshu ultimately reaching Tohoku, where it peters out before reaching Hokkaido which rarely experiences significant rainy season rainfall as a result.  

Known as Tsuyu in Japanese, the name refers to the ripening of the plum crop which occurs at this time of year hence the reference to plum rain that is occasionally applied. An alternative label though is Samidare (sa-me-da-ray), which, as with Oktober-fests which generally take place in September, the name literally translates as May Rain. In July. The water is occasionally torrential though more usually simply a persistent, vertical drizzle but with it comes a humidity that eats the cold into your bones as the temperatures fall.

The proud record holder of maximum precipitation on the Japanese islands is the prefecture of Miyazaki. Lying on the eastern shores of the southern island of Kyushu, the region received a Biblical deluge of twenty eight feet (8.7m) in the early summer of 2003 which goes someway to explaining the location of the world's largest sea dome, Seagaia resplendent with indoor beaches and giant wave machines. Closed in 2007 and surrounded by kamikaze bunkers, it was finally figured out that the capacity of the local airport was insufficient to provide the traffic required for profitability, the resort was rather ironically located about a golf ball's flight from the largest ocean on the face of the planet. And Mei-Yu reigned.

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The Siege of the Samurai Blue

In the summer of 2010 the Japanese national soccer team, "The Samurai Blue" (a name generally only used in English, the Japanese more traditionally naming the team after the coach at the time (if you were wondering)) were preparing through a number of friendly games for the World Cup to be hosted by South Africa that year. And things were not going well. In fact, things were going so badly that in a game against England in Graz, Austria, Japan scored no less than three times and lost 2 : 1 (think about it). As a result the airport was somewhat deserted as the pale Blue Samurai returned home before setting sites on the tournament proper some two weeks hence.

Losses to Serbia and arch-rivals South Korea didn't help the national atmosphere all that much and the team were generally being pilloried in the press of the day. adidas (not a typo, it is actually spelt with a lower case "a"), sponsors of the JFA, had been focusing on the youth of the country, working with a number of schools throughout the Spring and organising each to have the students write messages of support on thirteen giant manga. Slotted together and laid out on the flight path of jet airplanes as they departed Haneda International Airport, the Sky Comic was awarded a Guinness World for the largest comic strip in the world. And still the fans, they did not come.

And then things started to change. Wins over Cameroon and more notably Denmark saw the team through to the last sixteen where they faced Paraguay and suddenly the country started to take notice, sit up, stand, and finally cheer. A 0 : 0 full time score line saw the players march to their respective ends for the dreaded penalty shoot out. The country was going wild and then a cross bar from Komano handed advantage to Paraguay and silence fell as Cardozo stepped up. And converted. Japan was heartbroken but the team were now national heroes and this time when they flew back, landing at Kansai International, the crowd of thousands just went wild. And yes, I was there. And I did too. And the siege of the Blue Samurai was lifted.

  

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The Ambiguity of Article 9

Japan is quite refined in the art of ambiguity. To achieve lasting peace and prosperity, Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution states that "land, sea, air and other war potential will never be maintained". Noble sentiments that have served the country well over the last seventy years or so. Coming into effect on May 3, 1947 as a revision of the more militaristic Meiji predecessor, the country has not seen international conflict in anger since and only recently provided even the most basic of support to friends in hot places. Compare this to the Western score sheet and the scale of the achievement takes on near Biblical proportions.

Written in English (MacArthur tired of the government's attempts at maintaining the historical role of the Emperor) there is little room for misunderstanding though the Japanese document that received the seal of assent has since been re-interpreted to exclude defensive forces from the specific exclusions of Article 9. And it is this anomaly that the Prime Minister would like to see addressed head on with an actual revision to the terms so as to no longer have to hide behind something of a smokescreen. When the world rallied to arms in the first Gulf War, Japan could only send a cheque. To be fair though, George Bush did vomit in the lap of the then Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, but that's another story.

But here's the thing... Japan already has the eighth largest defence budget on the planet just behind France and the UK though a fraction of that of the US or China. It launches satellite tipped ballistic missiles into the heavens, manufactures F35 strike aircraft under licence, commissions 400m "heli-craft" carriers (resplendent with launch ramps...?!) and employs in excess of quarter of a million active military service personnel. So it's somewhat understandable that the government would look to normalise proceedings and adjust the constitution to reflect the reality of the day despite the inherent sensitivities (and watch this process arriving via the back door to a revision of the "education for all" provision). But then again, with a strict reading of the English original, it could be argued Japan are not actually "maintaining" a war potential; it's positively building it!

Hirohito signs the "Peace Constitution" into law

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Soy sauce and other giant squid and whale stories

Having conceded we would agree to disagree, as a final, and ultimately heroic failure of an attempt at winning the argument, I cunningly asked my assistant what, then, was she going to tell her grandchildren when all the whales have vanished from the seas of the world. She looked at me and replied with a twinkle, "they were tasty...". Fair enough. Japan struggles with its relationship with the largest creatures in the oceans; traditionalists arguing it is in part, the culture to enjoy the dish whilst others, predominantly the younger generation, suggesting cultures evolve over time and this time is the one to move on. A quick look at the stats show the traditionalists don't have a fin to paddle with (whaling only taking off after the Norwegians provided a modern ship in the 1930's making it no more traditional culture than a-ha!) and with stockpiles of over 1,000 tons of frozen mammal to call upon, the buying public appears to be siding with the modernists.

The traditional huntings grounds of the Ogasawara Islands, some 1,000kms south of Tokyo (and inspiration for the Orange Islands of Pokemon fame) have figured out that whale watching is something of an economically more viable business model than whale hauling and indeed have created a research centre which in 2005 took the first images of a giant squid, that of sail-ship lore. But no one has yet mentioned this to the five thousand residents of Taiji, the town of The Cove fame. Dolphins genuinely are family entertainment in the seas and an economic alternative for this town in Wakayama-ken with road, rail and sea access.

And it was another little town along the coast of Wakayama prefecture that, in the 1200's became home to a returning monk looking to set up shop and brew a delicious condiment he'd brought back from his travels in China. The Chinese had been enjoying miso paste for over a thousand years but it was left to Japan to syphon off and bottle the brown and sticky by-product. And soy sauce was born. Still to this day, the town of Yuasa ferments their soy bean for up to three years, creating the iconic product of shoyu. Which ironically is used, amongst other alternatives, to lubricate the taste buds in the hunt for perfect bite of whale meat.

    

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