I Know What We Did Last Summer

Japan’s summer is very humid. The air seems to be full of water invisible to the naked eye, but which magically seeps into the skin and materialises as droplets of sweat all over the body. Everything is sticky, clothes, handbags, chairs and people. The thick, wet air connects us to everything and makes us all a little irritable.

Our little group of friends has devised two methods of coping with this horrid weather: the beach and karaoke. The beach speaks for itself as a solution. It’s a stretch of sand to get hot and sweaty playing Frisbee on, and the great big ocean to sink into to cool off in. However, as we were initially unaccustomed to Japan’s more rocky seashore, we managed to cut out feet during our first Frisbee playing marathon (we played continuously for about 4 hours). Yet, no minor cut could deter us, so we got ourselves some beach clogs and have been a-beaching every weekend for the past month. Special mention should go to Matt and Goran for their excellent Frisbee skills!

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Karaoke is not such an obvious solution to the summer’s humidity, but when you consider that it takes place in the air-conditioned comfort of a karaoke booth, its appeal becomes obvious. Karaoke is particularly fun if it has been proceeded by a wine and cheese affair, which, three weeks ago, is exactly what happened. Luckily Kobe is quite an international city and we were able to buy affordable international wines (including Hardy’s, Brown Brothers and Rosemont) and some delicious cheeses.

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In short, in the company of good friends, any weather can be made into the backdrop for great fun.