"Rainy Season"

I was told that it was rainy season a few days ago. Since there were no rain clouds since I had gotten here hardly, and only a little rain in Kobe, I didn't think much of it.

I had a new dish today: Meat and Potatoes. Except the meat is in the potatoes...in little fried things. So meat and potatoes fast food! I went outside to eat it since I heard a few droplets of rain hitting the ground, and a tiny rumble of thunder off in the distance. I at it all in about 2 minutes. By the time I was done, I was soaked to the bone, and thunder deafened the sound of cars everywhere. The rain had picked up exponentially. I walked up the street to a bookstore, and they were closing all the safety door. Now I figured out why all my windows have steel shutters on the outside of them.

Because they need to.

I start to wander home from there, my shoes, socks, hair, dryfit shirt (ironic, i was fully saturated like everything else on my person). The rain starts to get in my eyes in a way that I can't blink out, and my glasses are covered. The rain gutters along the edge of the streets shuttle water at about 4 times my fast-walk speed, maybe more. By the time I get to the end of the first block, the gutters go from being 1/10 full to OVERFLOWING. I still can't really see. I make a turn, and another, through an intersection, crowned, that I have to slosh through water, despite the elevation compared to the surrounding area. I walk for a while, make another turh, and it is then that I realize that I am actually not on the right street, nor one I have been on before. Blind. Wet does not describe the rest accurately. Rain pelts everything continuously. I finally go through a spiral of roads until I get to the connection to my place. I go in hang up or lay out everything...and the sound of rain stops entirely. Now the sky is blue for the first time I've seen, only 15 minutes later.

All in all, I give Japan's drainage system a B+ Adam only gets a B- because he couldn't see better than enough to stay out of trouble.

At least it is not hot for a moment! I can't say much for that foundation being laid for a new house down the road: much of it washed away in the time is takes to eat a quick meal!