Counting Down to the Hottest Days of Summer

Greetings from this hot corner of Japan!

We seem to be covered with the ever-persistent glaze of sweat these humid days in this countryside corner of Shikoku. The June rainy season graced us with its cooling rain for only a short period, trading our brief cloudy skies with blisteringly hot, humid days. 

For many, summer is one of their least favorite times to be in Japan. But for us West Coast Canadians, the novelty of Japan’s intense humidity has yet to wear off, meeting it head-on with some of our all-time favourite summer activities, such as our BBQs and refreshing swims in the river to cool off whenever the need arises.

Our landlady’s old fan, left in the house, finally bit the dust this year. To replace it, we bought a “retro” fan, as promoted by our local electronics shop. Inspired by the Showa era (1926-1986), it is a perfect complement to our equally retro, if not more so, Japanese house. 

In my latest video, we really embraced the spirit of the summer season. This time, I took a more relaxed approach to storytelling, focusing less on events and more on the gentle, subtle transition from June to July. Initially, I attempted to create an ambient, ASMR-style video without music or voiceover. However, upon reviewing my first draft, I felt something was… well, missing. 

As a last-minute decision, I added music and voiceover, and the improvement was immediate. I’m not done experimenting with the ambient video style that I tried in my One Year Living in the Japanese Countryside earlier this year, so you might see something of the like sometime in the future. 

In the meantime, enjoy the video above, and thank you for reading/watching!