If you’re in Tokyo anytime from mid-June through July, chances are you’ll have the, uh, privilege of experiencing the traditional Japanese season known as tsuyu: the rainy season. (And since Japan is in the Asian monsoon belt, that means hot and rainy.) But the Japanese have been coping with steamy summer days for centuries, so instead of moaning that you’ll get soaked if you try to go to that garden you wanted to see today, do this instead!
Traditional beat-the-heat method #1:
Gaze at goldfish
Special exhibits at aquariums give locals an excuse to visit…
and there are goldfish festivals all over Japan where you can catch your own
with a plastic bucket and a notoriously fickle paper net
But the most spectacular way to experience goldfish in Tokyo is to visit Art Aquarium in Ginza…
or stroll among the seasonal animations and fish at Shinagawa Aqua Park…
wade in the digital koi pond at TeamLab Planets…
or draw your own sea creature to swim with the big boys at Teamlab Borderless…
Tell me more…
•
Traditional beat-the-heat method #2:
Listen to ghost stories
Ghost stories are supposed to literally “send a chill up your spine” so tales of ghosts and hauntings are traditionally told in the summertime
And if you’d like to experience this special kind of Japanese chill first-hand, get thee to Namco Namja Town in Sunshine City in Ikebukuro, and get the fright of your life strolling through their creepy haunted town!
•
Traditional beat-the-heat method #3:
Stock up on wind chimes
In summertime, you can buy pretty glass bells (called furin) that have paper wings on their clappers, so they give you a musical reminder to appreciate even the most miniscule breeze
and if you’d like to shop for the best wind chimes in all of Japan, the best places to buy them are the Nakamise Shopping Street in Asakusa and the Japan Traditional Craft Center, where everything is not just guaranteed to be handmade by artisans from every prefecture using age-old methods, it costs no more than if you bought it from the artist themself.
•
Traditional beat-the-heat method #4:
Wear blue, green or purple
Wearing cool colors is supposed to put you in a cool frame of mind (although the traditional summer outfit of unlined cotton kimono and geta worn without socks helps too)
And no summer outfit is complete without the go-to summertime fan called an uchiwa, which gets tucked into the back of your obi and doesn’t even have to be unfolded to deliver high-volume cooling
The best places to spend a couple of hours dodging the heat/wet on the excuse of buying a fan are any Loft, DonKi, Village Vanguard, Yodobashi Camera, LAB1or Hands store. I guarantee you’ll see stuff that delivers all the I can’t-believe-they-sell-this-in-Japan moments!
•
Traditional beat-the-heat method #5:
Eat foods they only sell in the summertime
Naturally, there are foods which can only be enjoyed this time of year, including nagashi sōmen (cold noodles dipped in a chilled savory sauce that you have to catch before you slurp)…
and kakigori, the snowiest shave ice you’ll ever eat, topped with syrup in traditional Japanese flavors (like green tea and melon), plus sweet red azuki beans or condensed milk
And last, but certainly not least, chilled cucumbers on a stick (which are also good for a few bawdy jokes to take your mind off the climbing mercury)
•
Beat-the-heat method #6:
Visit a museum with a seasonal summer exhibition (and industrial air conditioning!)
Museums are everyone’s favorite place to escape the heat and/or wet. But beat the crowds by venturing out to these must-see museums nobody knows about! Here are links to their exhibition schedules, so you can see what exhibitions are happening while you’re in town…
•
If you enjoyed this, subscribe!
Get all the latest Japan travel tips and tricks for free ヽ(*＾ω＾*)ﾉ
And here are the other places I take my friends when they come to town
•
Jonelle Patrick writes about Japan 