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CLIMATE OF JAPAN. 389
These polar winds are followed in April or May by the tepid south-western
monsoons, which, however, are frequently interrupted throughout the summer by
intervals of calm. Towards the end of summer, and especially in September, when
the temperature of the marine waters is highest, and when the air is charged with
vapours, the least atmospheric disturbance may give rise to a whirlwind, at times
sufficiently violent to be described as a typhoon. These cyclones prevail especially
in the south and throughout the Lu-chu Archipelago, but they never advance
northwards beyond Sendai Bay on the east coast of Hondo, and are mostly confined
to the area of the Kuro-sivo current. This dangerous period of aerial disturbances
is succeeded by the finest season in the year, a clear and bright autumn, genial
and refreshing after the relaxing summer heats. Owing to the greater regularity
of the annual winds, the alternation of the seasons is far more uniform in Japan
than in the temperate regions of West Europe. Hence the various expressions
introduced into the language, to denote at once the season of the year and the state
of the weather, which ought to normally correspond with it. Formerly
it was
fashionable to begin correspondence with long phrases referring to these regular
changes of the weather.
" Now that the ice has melted, the trees are
budding, and
you flourish more and more in the enjoyment of perfect health, I address you these
lines, written with the pencil. . . ." Such was the invariable opening of letters
written in spring.
The rainfall as well as the temperature is regulated by the monsoons. Except
in Yeso and on the west side of Hondo, the winter season is nearly everywhere
very dry, and the contrast between the two slopes is easily explained. The northwest
winds, always accompanied by fine weather along the coast of Russian
Manchuria, become charged with moisture while crossing the sea, and when they
strike the Japanese uplands this moisture is precipitated in the form of snow. In
some of the higher districts the snow lies so thick on the ground that the people
are obliged to take refuge in the upper storeys of their houses, and snow-shoes then
become universal, as in Canada. But beyond the crests of the hills, the atmosphere
is free from clouds, and the sun shines brightly throughout the winter months on
the lands facing the Pacific. On the other hand, both slopes are exposed to heavy
showers throughout the summer monsoons. The downpours will at times last for
days together, and on one occasion, when it rained incessantly for thirty hours at
Yokohama, all the brooks rose from 10 to 16 feet, while the rivers were transformed
to lakes. The rains coinciding with the summer heats and with the evaporation
from the rice grounds, which cover such a large surface, the whole land now
becomes sodden with moisture, and while vegetation flourishes with a rank growth,
men and animals pine in the oppressive and dripping atmosphere. The rainfall is
altogether scarcely inferior to that of the tropics, and is about double that of West
Europe. Thanks to these downpours, the Sea of is Japan far less saline than the
Pacific, and consequently freezes much more rapidly. In this almost land-locked
basin the tides are also very low, rising on the coast of Sado scarcely more than
22 inches.
The climate of the archipelago agrees on the whole very well with the European