"Fear no more the heat o' the sun..."

Fear no more the heat o' the sun;
Nor the furious winter's rages...

It's stupid-hot in Tokyo right now.  No, 'it's not the heat, it's the humidity.'  A stupid cliché, except when it is true!  The native-wife, the hybrid and me spent a month outside of Toronto in July, and though we had some days above 30C, it was nothing on the same temperatures in Tokyo.  The one consolation is that the humidity makes the sun feel less strong, but it also means shade does little good.  When I linked this weather data on Tokyo, and on Toronto, here were the telling differences.

For Tokyo:

- though the highest temperature may only be 34C, the lowest is 26C

- the humidity starts at 53% and ranges to 94%!

For Toronto, on the other hand... It's been an unusually rainy and cool August week, so the data is all off.  Still, our humidity does not often go to 94%, otherwise known as liquid.  Toronto's nights go below 20C, giving you a chance to rejuvenate.  Without a/c, and many Japanese believe it is healthier to sleep without it, there is no relief here.  It doesn't help that most people are living in concrete buildings.

Do not ever go to Tokyo in July or August, nor June's rainy season; go in mid to late September under advisement that it will be hotter than you think; all other months are preferable to the previous.  October, April and May are best.  If you teach here and have the summer off: bail.  There's nothing a human can do outside under 2000m, south of Wakkanai, or outside of 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.  As for the Shakespeare which starts this post: fear both, if you live in shite Japanese housing.  Fear it also if you are a kid on a Japanese sports team, or even an adult on a professional team.  They don't respect heatstroke here.  Japanese Razor: if there's a smarter way to do it (like not at midday!), 'it is not Japanese culture'.  Funny thread here.

The one consolation, and the picture alludes to it, is young Japanese women looking %$#@ing great at matsuri in this heat.  Nothing like a young woman aglow in her bathrobe.  Sure, the humidity is good for their skin and all, but I believe there is a subconscious effect here: she looks as she would if you had just %$#@ed her.