Japan's rainy season ends early for 1st time in decades

ISTANBUL

The rainy season in Japan ended early, with meteorological authorities reporting on Monday that it was the shortest season in three regions in the country's recorded history.

The rainy season in Tokyo and neighboring regions, known as Kanto-Koshin in east and central Japan, "appears to have ended," according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

In Japan, the rainy season finished "unusually" early this year, and high temperatures began to rise.

“It is the earliest finish to the period since data became available in 1951,” the agency told Tokyo-based Kyodo News, adding that the season ended 18 to 22 days earlier than expected.

According to the agency, this year was “also the shortest rainy period for the three regions in recorded history.”

In 2018, the rainy season also ended earlier than expected. “The temperature will be high from now on,” it forecast.

Amid the high temperatures, the government has urged the residents and businesses “to reduce electricity usage from 3 pm to 6 pm (local time) due to growing fears of a power supply crunch.”

While it is yet to be seen whether the early end to showers in resource-scarce Japan is a result of climate change, the country has imposed a “Tax for Climate Change Mitigation” on the use of fossil fuels and employs the revenue to mitigate energy-related emissions.

It also pledged at least $10 billion to achieve zero carbon emissions in Asia.

Japan, home to over 127 million people, has four distinct seasons: winter between December and February, spring between March and May, summer between June and August and autumn between September and November.

The JMA records show that “early summer is the rainy season” in the country.