Onset of a full-fledged winter

In Tokyo, where JPC’s office is, it is getting colder in the morning & evening. On TV, there was a report of the first snowfalls here & there across the country and I am feeling that a full-blown winter is not so far away.

I cannot believe we actually had those hot, humid days in summer when I feel this chill to my skin through thick layer of clothes. In Japan, the four seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter are dramatically different and the feeling of winter is to tolerate the cold weather. Especially when it snows, whether it falls heavily or not, we have to change our approach to driving and other daily chores.

On the 27th of August when it was still hot in the lowland, Japan Meteorological Agency reported that there was “Hatsukansetsu” on Mount Fuji (3776m) on the 9th of the month. It was the new record in 94 years. Until then, the earliest was on the 12th of August, 1914. Since the recording started in 1894, this was the earliest ever.

“Hatsukansetsu” is the time when a part of the mountain looks white with snow and they start checking after the hottest day each year. This year, the hottest day was on the 21st of July which was about 1 month earlier than usual. In average, “Hatsukansetsu” happens on the 14th of September and the last snowfall is on the 10th of July. It means every year Mount Fuji has about 2 months without snow. “Hatsukansetsu” is the time when the mountain looks white: why does snow look white? According to Japan Meteorological Agency, the centre of snow is small dust and dirt surrounded by ice crystal formed from water vapour in the air. The ice crystals get bigger with chilled water vapour and become snowflakes. Snowflakes are clear but when they get together they look white with the diffused reflection of light.

When snow falls, if the ground temperature is high, it turns into “rain”. If it is not completely melted, it is called “mizore”, snowy rain. “Mizore” is grouped as snow in the weather classification.

There are different shapes of snow depending on the conditions in the atmosphere and depending on their shape the quality differs. “Kona-yuki”, powdery snow falls when it is cold & dry and “Botan-yuki”, large flakes of snow fall when it is warm & humid. When the crystals get pushed back & forth into the air by ascending air currents, they gather a lot of water vapour and turn into “arare”, hailstones. “Arare” are 2 – 5mm across ice balls and if they are 5mm or more across, they are called “hyo”.

In Japan, we have a lot of vocabulary for seasonal & natural phenomenon which means they are very important for Japanese people. However lately when it snowed on Mount Fuji in mid-summer and when we have warm enough days in winter without coats, we cannot always “feel” the seasons. Even Japanese people do not always understand the difference in these words. According to my children, they do not teach these at school in detail. I think it is a shame. This is a part of our culture and we really should make more effort to pass it along to the new generations.


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