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<blogEntry id="4213">
	<title><![CDATA[endless rain]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][i][URL="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jannem/3464472449/"]Sogo and Daimaru[/URL][/i] by Janne Moren used under creative commons licence[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]


[i][highlight]here comes the rain again
falling on my head like a memory[/highlight]
Eurythmics

[highlight]and I wonder still I wonder 
who'll stop the rain[/highlight]
Creedence Clearwater Revival

[highlight]the bottoms of my shoes
are wet
from walking in the rain[/highlight]
Haiku by Jack Kerouac

[highlight]it's rainin' all over the world[/highlight]
Brook Benton, Rainy Night in Georgia[/i]


The rainy season has officially started in Japan. In Japanese it is called &#26757;&#38632; tsuyu - plum rains. Japan is made up of four large islands plus Okinawa and some smaller islands. Weather fronts like cherry blossoms or the rainy season move north and east with the rotation of the earth from the southern island of Kyushu up through Shikoku and the main island Honshu to the northern island of Hokkaido. 

The rainy season is not pleasant. Sometimes it is humid and wet and sometimes it is cold and wet. Anyway it is wet. Leather shoes and bags and jackets and belts can get mouldy. Washing is slow to dry. Especially thick cotton gi - martial arts uniforms. 

I don't know if Japanese people use telepathy or if they just check their mobile phones. But you know they know something you don't when you get on a train and everyone has an umbrella but you. 


[i]music
X Japan, Endless Rain
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL2FjssXY9g[/url]

Eurythmics, Here Comes the Rain Again
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC9OhK2Ovw0[/url]

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Who'll Stop the Rain 
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIPan-rEQJA[/url]

Brook Benton, Rainy Night in Georgia
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGiceab-jqQ[/url]


e-book of short story Rain by Somerset Maugham
[url]http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/w-somerset-maugham/rain--and-other-stories-ala.shtml[/url]

Haiku by Jack Kerouac
[url]http://users.rcn.com/jhudak.interport/Jack.html[/url]

wikipedia article about the rainy season
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian_rainy_season[/url]


my latest column on aikiweb: 
[URL="http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19821"]Unbalance - Feet of Clay[/URL]

old columns
[URL="http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19741"]Half a Tatami[/URL]

[URL="http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19617"]Zen in the Art of Aikido[/URL][/i]


© niall matthews 2011]]></body>
	<date>06-05-2011</date>
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