Seasons in Japan
Japan experience 4 seasons through a year. Generally, March to May is Spring,June to August is summer,September to November is fall,December to February is winter.
Spring is beginning of the year in Japan.So,all schools/companies starts from April and ends in March.
March is graduation month. April is very warm and not too cold,not too hot. And flowers start opening and especially cherry blossoms starts coloring the sky with pink and,it makes really nice views.
The city I am from has this one spot where people go see cherry blossoms in April. Trees are planted along side the river and,it almost look like cherry blossom arch if you walk around the river street.
Usually vendors appear at certain time,certain days and,many people come see the cherry blossoms and if there were parks near the place,people spend time there with food from home or vendors and do karaoke and when night comes,it is light up and it is really nice view at night.Very romantic view as well.
Here is some pictures from Guide of Japan.It is written in Japanese so you may not be able to read it but you can enjoy pictures there.
In summer time,I feel city where I came from gets a little humid than here in VA,USA. Very hot in summer and June is heavy rain month:we call the heavy rain month “Tsu yu”.
I remember our family visited mountain for camping,went to beach to get clams by digging the sand.
I hated clams back then but I liked digging so, it was fun thing to do.
Also summer time,we did family trip to many places by a car,did canoe in the river,enjoyed hot spring,pony ride .. we did lots of fun stuff in summer.
However,for Japanese students,summer is not “escape month” from schooling. When I was elementary school,we always got one booklet that has date on it and you need to do the page one by one.
Some days are Japanese,some days are math,it depends but it has lots of pages to complete during the summer vacation.
Plus,we were given choice of books to read. And,you then write essay on it. And then,you decide project/research theme by yourself and submit it as science homework.
Also, there were school swimming days you need to come show up.
Kids are divided into area group and calender shows which group is swimming day and kids show up,get a stamp on sheet,and the number of “Show-up” effects your PE class grade.
If you were joining in club,there are days for activity and it usually long and tiring days. And.. every morning at about 6:30am,kids show up at park and do exercise (kind of like stretching exercise and you do exercise to music),and you get stamps too.
Usually summer vacation for students in Japan is from July 20th or so to September 4th or so. It seems enough break but with all these extra stuff we need to do,it is actually busy vacation.
Fall usually with typhoon season. But tree leaves changes its color and it is enjoyable months.
Winter,it is cold months but not as cold as VA winter. Winter usually is stressful month for 9th grader and senior high school students.
Why?Because they need to take entrance exam to get into high school or University. I remember I studied stuff all nights.
We do not have daylight saving time. So,for me,it was strange thing to see our time changes at certain time:one hour back or forward etc.
I am not familiar with vacation for students here in US. Do they get homework or project assignment or swimming days or exercise days like students in Japan??
