Rainy Days

I remember when I was in junior high, I was caught in a sudden downpour after the club activity. I was wearing a sweatshirt, nothing wrong to get wet, so I gave up using the umbrella and enjoyed the heavy rain.
When I was living abroad, I never carried an umbrella but only had waterproof hoodies and never had problems.

Now, since I work at a Japanese company, carrying an umbrella has become essential.


1. Because of the weather
Since Japan has a humid climate, it is very hard to air-dry your clothes once you get wet.


2. Getting wet is inappropriate in business scenes
Japanese people pay much attention to one’s self’s appearance in order not to make others uncomfortable. Appearing in wet by rain is not good manner in business scene or a formal scene.


3. Punctual time schedule
As you know, Japanese people are accurate in time. It affects the matter of credibility. If you’re on the way to an important meeting and it starts to rain, no one waits for some time to pass the rain but buy an expensive umbrella at convenient store or grab a taxi.

Btw, waiting under the shelter to pass the rain is called "Amayadori (雨宿り)" in Japanese. One of my favorite Japanese words.

Sunny Days

People, especially women, also use umbrella on sunny days, and is called “Higasa.”
I personally started to use Higasa last year. In the sense that it keeps my hand busy and it doesn’t match how I wanted to be seen (Higasa has an image of elegant women, a total prejudice though), I resisted to have a Higasa until the very end.
Now these are the reasons why I finally made a choice to carry a Higasa.


1. Because summer in Japan is too hot
As you may know, Japan’s summer, it’s not only Japan though, is becoming hot ever. Higasa not only cut UV, but it also blocks light and heat, so it has the effect of lowering the perceived temperature. If the Higasa’s inside is covered in black fabric, it might have the effect to feel cool. I walk about 20min to work, and the amount of sweat in summer differs a lot between having a Higasa or not.


2. I feel my skin damaged
It’s no longer some knowledge for beauty freaks that UV is bad for one’s skin, but my burden won until I felt my skin damaged. I prefer tanned skin, so I didn’t care about going out without putting sunscreen on, but recently, I do care a lot because my skin hurts and become delicate after having much sunlight.

Now there are umbrellas for both sunny and rainy weather, with several stylish designs on it.
Enjoy shopping fashionable umbrellas and survive the rainy season!!