Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/108

96 climate far wetter than that of England and subject to greater extremes of temperature. It should be added, on the other hand, that it also has more fine days, and that the fine days which it has are incomparably finer and more inspiriting than the feeble, misty incertitudes that pass for fine weather among the natives of Great Britain.

The best season is the autumn. From the latter part of October to the end of the year, the sky is generally clear and the atmosphere still, while during a portion of that time (November), the forests display glorious tints of red and gold, surpassed only in Canada and the United States. During January, February, and March, snow occasionally falls, but it rarely lies longer than a day or two. The spring is trying, on account of the wet spells and the frequent high winds, which often seriously interfere with the enjoyment of the cherry, wistaria, peony, and other flowers, in which the Japanese take such pride. True, the rain is always pronounced exceptional. Never, it is alleged, was so wet a season known before, properly conducted years admitting of no rain but in June and the first week or two of July—the "rainy season (nyubai) duly provided for by the old Japanese calendar, in which not native only, but the foreign residents, exhibit a confidence which would be touching were it not tiresome. Statistics show, however, that from April on to July inclusive nearly every other day is rainy, while in the months flanking them on either side March and August an average of more than one day in three is rainy. In September and October the average number of rainy days rises again to about one out of every two. The superstition concerning a special "rainy season" may be due to the trying combination of dark skies with the first heat of the year, making exercise wearisome when not impossible. So penetrating is then the damp that no care can succeed in keeping things from mildew. Boots, books, cigarettes, if put away for a day, appear next morning