On July 28 the rainy season ended in Kanto-Koshin. At 11:00 a.m. the Meteorological Agency, as usual, said it “appears the rainy season has ended,” a little timid. I well know weather needs this much vagueness, but a sentence with no subject, “appears,” is not clean. One wishes they could at least say “we judge the rainy season has ended,” with the Agency’s own voice…
Enough grumbling; many should welcome the end itself. Ice-cream makers surely first. Closer to home, upper-elementary children. They are now in summer break, in the thick of forest school and school trips. Friends who fretted over mountain weather! First, good news!!!
Hearing “end of the rainy season,” I stepped out of Palaceside Building at lunch, but the sky was dull. The photo above looks west from Takebashi Cross-
ing; clouds looked as if they might rain again. Still, thin sun came in the afternoon, and the nightmare of being rained on the moment it ends was, for now, avoided. The air is a little unstable; mountains along northern Kanto may see rain from evening. Tokyo is forecast over 30 degrees from this day through next Monday (August 1). End of rains = heat. Well, that is how it is.
A representative summer flower is crape myrtle. In the plantings along the sidewalk in front of Palaceside Building about 50 are set over some 200 meters (photo at right). The name comes from blooming about 100 days, roughly July–September. Blooming so long, they are a blessing for those who plant street trees.
These crape myrtles were planted and are managed by Palaceside Building under Tokyo’s “Tokyo Fureai Road Program,” so the street stays pleasant to use.
Another pleasure is the many colors. The characters include “red,” so a deep color? Peach, or reddish purple (photo at lower left). Many look pale purple or pink (photo at lower center). And white (photo at lower right) — roughly these three. The flowers bloom in cones, so they can look like grapes. Color differs subtly by tree. Which do you prefer?
