*to Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Κυνόσαργες

Friday 6 April 2012

SIX fucking seasons!

I have written often about what I call 'cultural blind-spots': which Japan has no less than the Anglosphere.  One of the more tedious is that 'Japan has four seasons'.  It's annoying enough that Japan is supposed to be unique, but four-season climates are as common as dirt in both the northern and antipodean temperate zones.  It's stupid enough as a symptom of Nihonjinron-'logic' meant to set-apart the Japanese.  You ought to read how 'kamo' addresses this:
Branding someone as unusual and different is not the best opening gambit if you’re looking to create a shared mutual space. It’s a clear, if unintended, labeling of you as ‘other’ from the outset. ‘You are not one of us. You never will be.'
The witlessness that sets me off is that it's just fucking untrue.

Winter   冬

Spring   春

Good Summer   五月晴れ


Rainy Season   梅雨


Bad Summer   地獄
 
Autumn      秋
 
Can't the Japanese count to six?  Yes, and they even have vocabulary for the rainy season and the 'good summer' in May (I coined my own for the 'bad summer', July through September).  Shouldn't they have counted higher than four?  Yes, however, they read too much Chinese Tang Dynasty poetry, and those cats went on about their four seasons: which is fair enough as they were not in the same climate as Japan.  Japan borrow concepts from abroad and apply them without analysis of local conditions?  June weddings make sense in England, where that's the only good month.  In Japan...

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for the nod, and welcome back.

    I've normally just gone for five (the usual + Rainy). I like the 'good summer, bad summer' thing though. Reminds me of the whole role-playing 'Chaotic Good/Lawful Evil' character alignment thing.

    Not that I ever did role-playing, but I have been spending far too much time on tvtropes.org recently. Amazing the useless ideas people pick up and retain eh?

    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CharacterAlignment

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  2. LOL

    In the Netherlands we only have three but Autumn is repeated, so if we take 1st January as the starting point:
    Winter -> Autumn -> Spring -> Autumn (again) -> Winter

    In Basque Country though we have 4 seasons under the umbrella of the 'rainy season'.

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  3. Bad Summer makes me feel like I'm wearing a wet blanket in the Summer. Hawaii has nothing like it. I went to Las Vegas and it was 107 F. And so long as you stay hydrated I'd prefer it over Bad Summer everyday.

    I just asked one of my J.H. students yesterday to "tell me something special about Japan" ...and yeah...Japan and it's 4 seasons.

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  4. Wus wundering when you were going to resurface. Must be the season... Hiring season is another one. And dying season, which is in May, if I'm not mistaken. Due to a peak in suicides, which is, I think, common in other areas around the globe the Northern hemisphere. Though I could be wrong.

    Oh yeah, there are two bonus seasons, but they typically don't happen for those of us who have been 'othered' and will never be one of them.

    The idea that Japan has at least six seasons... you are definitely on to something here.

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  5. Thanks for the kind words about my absence, and the comments. Lots of bi-polar in my extended family, so I'll use that as an excuse for my milder symptoms of waxing and waning enthusiasms like blogging and running.

    Speaking of psychological issues, I thought the suicide peak was Christmas/New Year and February. However, that may be a Canadian thing. If you've experienced our long cold winter nights you'll understand. Japan? There must be suicide peaks, but considering how often a commute is ruined by 'Chuo-cide' there's never a low.

    http://archive.metropolis.co.jp/tokyorantsravesarchive299/276/tokyorantsravesinc.htm

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    Replies
    1. Sun-related.

      First paragraph says it all.

      http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200302/mind-and-sun-shedding-light-suicide-and-schizophrenia

      And the second paragraph starts with, "Suicides peak in May and June in the Northern Hemisphere..."

      So, there you go.

      Be well.

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  6. I'm not looking forward to bad summer, ginger people aren't meant for that kind of climate :/.

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  7. I think Tokyo has only two seasons - too hot and too cold. Maybe a few nice days in between.

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  8. I think I need to travel outside of my comfort zone. Where I live it seems like I have one season and it never varies. I witnessed snow for the first time in my life in April (trip to Germany). Definitely out of my comfort zone. I do not envy your hot and humid summers but I am sure one day I will test my tolerance.

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