A note about the rain

When it rains here, it rains so hard, sang Billy Bragg about his visit to Tokyo in 1984. Okay, so it probably wasn’t about Tokyo and I am not even sure it was written in 1984 but yesterday it rained harder than I can ever remember it raining, and remember I grew up in Wales. Many people in the office made the joke that it was rain like the Severn Bridge, but to be honest, it was heavier than that. It was raining lions and wolves, tigers and hyenas, Leopards and oh you get the idea, it was bloody lashing down. The good thing about the rain in Tokyo is it is often unaccompanied by the wind, so unlike Cardiff, an umbrella is possible. The problem is, it doesn’t really cool down when it rains, so yesterday I was faced with the conundrum, go to work in my suit jacket and umbrella and hope I don’t get drenched to the bones, or put on my raincoat and let it rain, (sorry, another Billy Bragg Lyric) and also of course let me sweat. One way or another, I was going to end up soaked.

The other conundrum I faced was how to get to work. Normally I take the train to Ueno, and then walk the remaining way, often I go early and walk around the park. But yesterday was not walking weather. Even If I walked from Ueno directly I would get to the office like a drowned kangaroo. The other option is to change onto the Chiyoda line which takes me to Yushima station which is a two-minute walk from my office. But the problem with the Chiyoda line is the carriages are not big enough for the amount of people who want to ride it. The thought of squeezing myself into a train carriage with a million wet bodies, with wet bags and wet brollies being crushed up against me filled me with dread, I was surely going to get to the office just as wet as if I had walked. Somehow, second-hand rain transferring on to you from other people feels ickier than being lashed by it first-hand. But then again my swimming is not strong enough to get me unscathed from Ueno to work.  When it rains here, it rains so hard and brings with it conundrums that I don’t need at 9 am in the morning. 

Just as an aside, I was a victim of theft here yesterday. Japan is a trusting country. People leave their brollies everywhere and anywhere and go back to find them them. Outside my flat is a place to hang your brolly. My two umbrellas have been hanging on the hook since the last rains but when I went outside this morning, there was only one there. Some bastard had stolen my brolly. 

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