Signs it's summer in Osaka

First of all, I apologize for the lack of posts - things have been busy at my senior high school with their sports festival, a school speech contest and end of term exams. There are also the farewell parties for JETs returning to their home countries, and just trying to organize my summer holiday altogether. I should have some posts on the way - they're written and stored, just not yet finished. ^_^; (The photo above is of my koto teacher's dog Haku, by the way, taken on the newest addition to my toy digital camera family: the VistaQuest VQ1015 Entry! Which are sold out just about everywhere in Japan and REALLY hard to find!)

For some reason it feels as if we've skipped over 梅雨（つゆ）tsuyu, or rainy season. I can only recall a few days of rain in May and June, and it's almost as if Kansai decided to fast-forward to the dreaded summer heat. It's come to the point that if you were to take a shower here, you step out and just start sweating again.

But there are also more sure [warning] signs that you can tell that it's summer. Here's a list I made below - feel free to add or comment.

You know it's summer in Osaka when..

• You start seeing many of the women carrying parasols to protect themselves from the sun - even on cloudy days.
• Women's wardrobe changes as well, including (but certainly not limited to) arm covers, giant sun hats, a coverall of some sort (such as a sweater or long sleeved cover-up), and even towels that cover over the face tucked underneath a sun hat.
• You hear the joyous sound of that lovely and favorite bug of the season (not to mention the absolute noisiest) the cicada.
• Everyone carries around a 扇子（せんす）sensu, a folding fan and a small hand-sized towel (a sweat towel).
• People start passing out 団扇（うちわ）uchiwa, another kind of fan that looks like a giant lollipop in fan form, as a form of advertisement.
  
• The air conditioners inside the subways, private railway trains and JR trains are turned on at full blast. Same goes for in subway stations.
• You can start to hear wind chimes outside of your apartment or house.
• Food stands start to sell かき氷（かきこおり）kakikoori, a tasty summer dessert consisting of shaved ice and flavored syrup, just like snow cones. Other summer foods include そうめん somen, white noodles served cold with a tasty sauce for dipping.
• Girls start wearing 浴衣（ゆかた）yukata (summer kimono) to events.
• You can see fireflies at night.
• Festivals start! (Which I always look forward to the most!)
  

I've also started up a list of the top ten festivals in Kansai (not limited to summer, but still) and hope to get that up next time. Until then, for those of you sticking it out in Osaka for the summer - good luck!