Rain

You know, I never really had much of a problem with rain until I came to Japan... I had no idea what Forrest Gump was talking about with his "sideways rain", and "rain that seemed to come up from underneath." Now I say that unless you've lived in some kind of coastal, island or tropical climate that you know not the evil that rain can bring with it.

Take today for example: it's been raining since mid-afternoon yesterday, and the wind today was blowing people's umbrellas apart all over the place and delaying trains. This isn't even the "rainy season" yet, which is of course separate from typhoon season in the fall. I've never liked umbrellas personally as it's a pain to carry them around and find somewhere to put them and stuff, but there are seriously days here where you cannot avoid it.

The worst though is that there are times when an umbrella just simply does not help whatsoever. With normal wind and rain you can tell which direction it's coming from and adjust accordingly, marking a swath of dryness big enough for you to traverse. Around here though, there have been times where no matter which direction I point the umbrella in I still get totally soaked with the wind blowing directly in my face... almost like it's coming up from underneath. Oh my God, Forrest Gump was right!!!

I still hate umbrellas with a passion and will resist them whenever possible, but if you've ever been in a suit that was totally and utterly dripping wet from head to toe then you'd think about it too.