One of the biggest transitions for me to life in Japan was the fact that there were actual seasons throughout the year. As I have lived in San Diego for nearly all of my life, I was used to not really experiencing any change in weather throughout the year. Sometimes it would get a little hot, sometimes it would get a little cold, but there would really never be any drastic difference in climate throughout the year. Given my lifestyle in San Diego, I never needed any special clothes for the changing seasons or anything like that, so I knew had to prepare in advance for my year in Japan. Be sure to pack accordingly to the typical weather of wherever you would travel abroad to. Packing aside, I was really grateful that I was able to fully experience each season in Japan and through visiting gardens and participating in seasonal events, I was able to enjoy the seasons as much as I could. FallWhen I arrived in Japan in fall, it was still hot and humid, but it began to gradually cool down. I witnessed the leaves change color and eventually begin to fall, something which I could hardly see in San Diego. I was recommended to visit the Rikugien garden by one of my teachers as it was a great place to see maple leaves change color this time of year. Although my group of friends visited the garden a little late in the season, we were still able to see plenty of what it had to offer in terms of beautiful scenery and I was very thankful for the recommendation. WinterDuring my year abroad, it had first snowed in November, which was not expected as the last occurrence of this was about fifty years ago. Although technically not quite winter, I still count this as part of the season for me. As the leaves would continue to fall, the temperature would continue to drop as well. This led to freezing nights in winter that left me and a few friends from San Diego hating every second of it as we had never had to experience weather this cold and for this long before. Despite not being a fan of the cold weather, I still looked forward to it snowing for some odd reason, probably due to me only seeing snow a handful number of times throughout my entire life. I had participated in a school trip that took us on a ski/snowboarding trip to the western side of Japan. It was here where I first realized what true winter was. I would have enjoyed it more, but unfortunately I had gotten sick over that trip and left feeling miserable, although it was worth it to see that amount of snow in real life. Back in Yokohama, the cold weather continued up until around mid-March and also snowed a few more times as well. SpringSpring is probably the most popular season in Japan for one thing alone: cherry blossoms. Seeing so many in bloom was one of the best sights in Japan for me. There was almost too much merchandise and advertisements centered around cherry blossoms this time of year. It would also be common to start seeing people enjoying Hanami, or flower viewing, as they would have picnics and relax under the cherry blossoms. If seeing the cherry blossoms is a top priority for you, there are plenty of online sites that post the information about when they will be in bloom in certain areas and how long they last for. Be proactive in enjoying them as they disappear very quickly and the experience is a lot to give up on. This was probably my most favorite time of year as everything just felt peaceful and I had never seen anything bloom on that scale before. This wouldn’t only apply to cherry blossoms as spring continued and more and more plants had begun to blossom. For example, my group of friends and I had gone to an azalea festival at one of my favorite shrines in in Tokyo, Nezu, and just seeing them in bloom left me in awe. SummerAs summer was approaching, the humidity and heat in Yokohama would continue to rise. This would also coincide with “rainy season” in Japan, so that didn’t lead to comfortable weather for a decent period of time. Around this time, various types of insects would begin to slowly make their reappearance for summer, namely cicadas. All of my previous knowledge of cicadas had been through the Animal Crossing video game series and I did not realize how accurately they were depicted until my summer in Japan. At nearly every hour of the day you could hear them chirping or screaming in the not too far distance. I ended up kind of liking cicadas and how they symbolized summer for me in Japan and am probably going to miss them every summer from here on. The one thing I am glad that I got to avoid about summer in Japan was when the cicadas would begin to die off and become “bombs” of some sort, meaning that you could possibly startle one on the ground and set it off in a final burst of energy. Again, I am really glad that I was able to leave before this happened.
Aside from the insects of summer, they were also a few other things that symbolize summer for me in Japan. For instance, wind chimes were culturally known as being part of that "summer feeling" in Japan and I was lucky enough to attend a wind chime festival in the neighboring city of Kawasaki. At this festival they had huge displays of wind chimes as well as vendors from all around Japan that were selling handcrafted ones as well. I had bought one and hung it outside of my dorm for the remainder of my study abroad and it was very much a part of the relaxing summer days in Japan. Additionally, I was able to travel to the Sankeien garden that was near Yokohama and able to view the lotus flowers that would only bloom in the early morning. This was one of my more memorable sights of summer in Japan and I am grateful that it was only a short bus ride away from me. Another aspect of summer in Japan were fireworks. They would start being sold at stores around the area and festivals would often be held having fireworks displays. The one I had attended was far better than any previous one that I had seen in San Diego. All in all, I am very grateful that I was finally able to enjoy the four seasons, especially in Japan where there was a lot of emphasis on each season through events, seasonal food, and merchandise that encapsulated the relaxing atmosphere of each season. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI am Kyle Sablan and I studied abroad at Yokohama National University (YNU) during the 2016-2017 academic year. This blog was created as one of the requirements for receiving the Gilman Scholarship. The purpose of this blog is to share my personal experience with everybody and encourage interest in studying abroad. Archives
April 2018
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