0006 Ame for Every Occasion

Legend has it that the Arctic Inuit have hundreds of ways to say “snow.” Linguists now tell us that this is just another urban myth. It’s a fact, however, that the Japanese have hundreds of words for “rain.” Among them konuka ame, literally rice bran rain, a light drizzle that barely gets you wet and namida ame, “tears rain”, a gentle shower more depressing emotionally than significant meteorologically. Ecologist Kenneth Wilkening says that Japan is a veritable culture of rain. The islands are dependent on abundant rainfall for paddy field rice farming. What’s more, traditional Japanese society elevated the humble umbrella to an art form and produced a rich poetry of precipitation. Richer than “Rain, rain, go away,” that’s for sure. #ceas #japan #tsutsui #hacker November 9-12, 2005.