Twenty Ways Japanese Stay Cool During the Hot Summer

Friday, June 21st is the first official day of summer in the United States. Calendars in Japan are likewise telling the same story to residents and visitors there. Anyone who has lived in or visited Japan during the summer months knows how incredibly hot it can get, especially in the cities. I remember summer days stepping outside of my Tokyo apartment into what felt like a steam sauna.  In the time it took to walk to the train station, my clothes were damp and I'd finished off my first bottled water.  Japanese also need to deal with the onset of the rainy season, an approximate six-week period during June and July where humidity is elevated to the max, and afternoon rain showers pop up just about every day.

This time of year the goal becomes simple:  find ways to cool off.  Here are twenty ways that Japanese beat the summer heat and humidity. These suggestions range from the high tech to the old school, from the logical to the unexpected. 

1. Pick up an uchiwa (hand held fan)

Fans have long been an icon in Japan and you can still see people using them today. While fancy, artistic types can be purchased in stores, basic varieties prevail for on-the-street use. Inexpensive ones with nature decor  or free fans with promotional advertising seem to be most preferred.

2. Wear a yukata 

These lightweight summer cotton garments easy to wear with no elastic, buttons or zippers to bother with. There are elegant ones for special occasions and simple ones for every day wear.  Yukata are designed for women, men, kids, babies, even pets... 

 
3. Lower the sudare blinds and admire a furin (wind bell)

Many Japanese residences still use these wooden or bamboo roll up blinds as a way to block direct sunlight from entering and heating up rooms and balconies. Restaurants and office buildings are also equipped with sudare blinds.  The wind bell is said to evoke a feeling of coolness when the wind moves around it and causes a gentle chime to sound. 

 

4. Cold meals – Opt for salads and cold soba noodles

Chilled meals are a big favorite when the temperatures soar.  

5. Cold drinks – Sip iced coffee, iced tea, and iced sake
There is no better way to cool down fast than with a tasty chilled beverage.

6. Cold desserts – Enjoy green tea ice cream, kakigoori (shaved ice), and coffee jelly
If you have never heard of coffee jelly, or tried it, and you are a coffee fan, I recommend this dessert.  It is coffee gelatin, usually served with ice cream or cold rich cream. So refreshing!  Search You Tube for video tutorials on how to make it at home.

7. Go to a natsu matsuri (summer festival) 
Wherever there are Japanese, look for a summertime festival and join in! Annual summer events might be held for a day or over a weekend, and include parades, live music, dancing, taiko drumming, street food, carnival games for the kids, and fireworks. The atmosphere can be electric with the buzz of excited and happy crowds of people.

8. Go to the movie theater
Catching a movie at the local movie theater on a summer day or evening has become a global thing. Japanese theaters can be small or large.  In recent years I have seen some huge entertainment complexes in Tokyo that seem to take up a whole city block.  They can be nine or ten stories high and house movie theaters, a bowling alley, arcade bar, and food court.  Of course, you can pay for movie tickets ahead of time online, or pay onsite with cash, credit card, or a swipe of your smartphone. 

9. Turn on the A/C or your electric fan  
Push some buttons to activate your favorite cooling system. 

10.  Visit Tokyo Disneyland
The famous amusement park is a great escape any time of year, but especially summer. Take advantage of the many cool theaters, exhibits and attractions.

 

11.  Use an umbrella under the sun (for ladies)
Many women keep cool and protected from the harsh rays of the sun by taking an umbrella along when they go out and about.

12.  Take a bike ride with a friend
This is such a sign of summertime in Japan:  riding a bike with a friend as a back wheel passenger through Ueno park or along the Tamagawa River.
 

13.  Go to a park with fountains
Take your pick of beautiful municipal parks, then grab a park bench near a fountain and enjoy the breezes and water spray.  Fountains you find may be small and simple, artistic, digital-modern, or majestic and natural looking.

14.  Pay a visit to Tokyu Hands or The Loft

Tokyu Hands bills itself as the "Creative Life Store."  The Loft is of the same genre.  These are massive multi-story general goods merchants. Imagine a Target store that is narrower and seven stories tall. These variety stores have items for sale that you didn't know existed or never knew you needed.  Air conditioned and full of things to stimulate the senses, you can pass some serious time in these places.  It's a fun way to spend a sultry summer afternoon.

15.  Find a pool party 
Pools and water parks are always a good choice for hot summer days, and are popular in many countries and cultures, including Japan.

16.  Display a fresh summer flower arrangement
Japanese love the simple beauty of a flower arrangement and bringing the colors of nature into the home.  Ikebana is the art of flower arranging according to the season.  Whether you take a class, purchase an arrangment from someone who practices this art, or attempt to do it yourself, flowers and fresh greens are synonymous with a cool, relaxed feeling, and antidote to the summer heat.
 

17.  Walk the shaded grounds of Meiji Shrine, Tokyo
Meiji Shrine is in the heart of Tokyo and it is just one of many shrines and temples that you can visit.  Many are well known not only for their sacred buildings of worship but also for their grounds that resemble parks with woods. Take a detour into one of these sanctuaries and do some exploring.  Usually there are sidewalks for strolling, and gazebos for enjoying peaceful sights and sounds of nature.

18.  Visit an aquarium or museum
Lazy summer days usually mean less running around and taking care of urgent business. It is the perfect time to unplug from the computers and tablets and walk around massive fish tanks with cool dark corridors, or enjoy an art exhibit. Some standout facilities in Japan include:
-- Osaka Aquarium KAIYUKAN 
-- Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium 
-- The Tokyo National Museum
A guide to some of the many museums in Tokyo alone can be found here. 

19.  Go to the beach
Japan is an island country so that means you are never far from a picturesque beach, a cool ocean breeze, and water sports.
Okinawa has some of the most gorgeous beaches I have ever seen.  But that tiny island is far away, a long plane trip to the south that not everyone has the funds or time to visit.  Fortunately you can take your pick of many other great beaches closer to the main cities, and around vicinities and regions of Japan, such as Kamakura, Tottori and Ise.



This is Shonan Beach near Mt. Fuji.

20.  Get a foot massage at a Queensway oasis
I was introduced to Queensway by a Japanese friend.  It is a spa-salon chain owned by a company named Raja that specializes in providing walk in or by-appointment reflexology services, or foot massage. Some locations offer body massage as well.  Queensway spa-salons are located strategically wherever people are on foot and on the move:  busy city streets, train and subway stations, and inside shotengai, or walking malls.  

When your feet are feeling tired or achy and you'd like to take a break from the day's activities, walk into a Queensway spa-salon and leave your cares behind.  In a cool, darkened room you are offered a recliner and a cool towel for your forehead scented with lavender.  You select a service from the menu (such as a 50 minute foot massage), then sit back and let the expertly trained massage professional take over.  This is one of the few massage service businesses that appears to bring in just as many men as women. If in Japan be sure to include a visit to Queensway, and if not seek out a reflexology service closer to home. A foot massage is a nice way to stay cool and relaxed this summer.

Kagurazaka Festival of Tokyo

Steamy hot summer days in Tokyo and all around Japan call for everyone to take a break from busy schedules, dress "cool-bizu" style (lighter weight casual clothing for keeping cool), pour a glass of iced coffee, and celebrate the season.  It's time for the summer festivals. And with a flash of colorful yukata (summer cotton kimono), bright lights, drumming and flutes, the dancing begins.  The atmosphere seems to buzz and sparkle with laughing children, as oba-san and oji-san, the older adults, look on with nostalgic expressions.  Ah, these familiar sights and sounds bring smiles and sighs to the crowds of spectators who arrive to get in on the excitement.

One popular summer festival held each year in late July in a neighborhood of Tokyo's Shinjuku district  is the  Kagurazaka Matsuri, an event that revives the lively atmosphere of Tokyo as it might have looked and sounded like long ago.

The name Kagurazaka is a combination of kagura (a shrine-dance to music) and saka (hill) and is the perfect name for this beautiful part of Tokyo. It's layout has not changed much since the town was established in the 17th century, even though most of the area was tragically burned down in an air raid on Tokyo in 1920. 

In the center of Tokyo is Kagurazaka Slope, a place that was just beyond the walls of the imperial palace grounds, where poets, artists, politicians and geisha once gathered. Today the cobblestone alleyways and shops provide an interesting historic ambience.  This is actually where Karyukai, or the geisha culture, was born. In 1910 there were as many as 600 geishas who lived here. A few Ryotei, or Geisha houses, are still in operation.

The annual Kagurazaka festival features a Hozuki Ichi (Ground Cherry Pod Fair). The highlight is the Awa-odori Dance. This dance originated in Awa, Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku. It was first held in Tokyo for the Kagurazaka Matsuri and now a part of many summer festivals in Tokyo, where fifteen to twenty groups of  musicians and dancers form a procession along Kagurazaka-dori, the main street and dance to the sound of the shamisen, flutes, and drumming. It is truly a family event, where kids participate too!  Here is an amateur video recorded by someone who attended this year's festival.

If you go next year, look for the Japanese lantern plant market, held in and around Bishamonten Zenkoku-ji Temple. There you can find volunteers dressed in yukata who guide visitors around the neighborhood. Local cafes and restaurants open stalls for business, welcoming everyone to enjoy a "taste of Kagurazaka."

 

Anytime you're in the mood to explore this part of Tokyo, first do a little research online on the website of the  Shinjuku City Tourism Association. For great walking maps published online in English featuring Kagurazaka and other areas of Shinjuku, click this link.  

Kagurazaka is conveniently located and accessible from the JR IIdabashi station on the Yamanote Line. As you exit the station, turn to your right and a one minute walk will place you at the base of Kagurazaka-dori.  Tokyo Metro Iidabashi and Ushigome-Kagurazaka stations also provide access to the area.

The Kagurazaka event has already wrapped up for this year, but you still have lots of options!  Japan Times Online has an excellent listing of summer festivals in Japan, inside and outside Tokyo, happening in July and August 2012.  Take a look here.