2005 Japan Trip - Day 2 (Part 1)

Part 1 - Saturday (Doyoubi 土曜日) Oct. 29th 2005 - Several days before leaving Hawaii, Shizuka-san (my friend in Nara 奈良) let me know that the weather forcasters predicted rain (ame 雨) on 土曜日. I checked here: JWA - Japan Weather Association and sure enough, it called for cloudy skies on Friday and for 雨 on 土曜日. So, it was no great shock when I awoke to find this picture out of my window. It looked gloomy and misty and foggy outside, and I remember getting really close to the glass, straining to see if there were actual drops falling. I saw only a few small drops hitting the window and sill every now and then, "not too bad" I thought to myself. If it stayed like this all day, it would be OK.

Since we planned to meet in 奈良 at 12 noon, I had a little time in the morning to explore and decided to find an internet cafe since I still had no place to stay on Wednesday night. I walked to Osaka Station (Osaka Eki 大阪駅) via the underground walkway between the Daiichi Hotel and the station 駅. I found the internet cafe, but it opened at 10 a.m. or so, too late for me. By this time, it was raining much harder than when I first woke, so I made it back to the hotel and got ready to leave.

I wondered to myself how the weather forcast in Japan 日本 could be so accurate from 5 or 6 days out. Was it just chance or luck? Was the technology here that much better than in Hawaii? After thinking a while, I decided that since the landmass of 日本 is so much bigger than Hawaii, they probably have a better chance of predicting the weather. If you live in Hawaii, you know it is practically impossible to accuratley predict any weather, other than "sunny to partly couldy, with mauka and windward showers." Hopefully, the 40 kilometers between here and 奈良 would allow the 雨 to pass.

つづく。。。

To see the story of Day 1, click here: 2005 Japan Trip Day - 1