The weather called for sunny clear skies.  I should have known better.  I shouldn’t have paid attention to the morning report and brought an umbrella.  In the end, I didn’t.  I got caught in a torrential squall.  The rain was coming down so hard that I had to seek some shelter to keep from getting utterly soaked.

I had made it only about 5 minutes from where I started where I sought refuge under a temple’s gate.  I wasn’t alone.  Three Japanese carpenters who had been doing some repairs on the gate were also trying to keep dry under the protection of the jointed and slotted wooden structure.  I couldn’t help feeling a bit like the opening scene in Kuruosawa’s Rashomon.  As strangers seeking protection from a thunderstorm huddled around a small fire.  It does seem a bit cliche, but it was on my mind.

We were joined briefly by a pair of university students who paused for a few minutes before continuing down the stone steps.  I heard them gasp as the peered over the edge of the steps.  I could hear the rushing of the water as it flowed around the gate then down the steps.

After spending about 30 minutes the rain appeared to let up a bit, so I opened up my 100 yen umbrella and walked over the steps.  The edges of the steps had turned into a small raging waterfall.  The roughly hewn stones blurred under the flowing water.  I still was soaked by the time I reached the station.

For the 20 minute train ride home all I could think about was taking a hot shower and changing my squeaking Sauconys.  I was amazed when I stepped out at my home station less than 10 kilometers away from the torrential rain to find it bone dry.  All in all just another day during this year’s unpredictable rainy season.

The air was refreshingly cool today.  A sign that the rainy season will begin within the next 10 days or so.  I really don’t mind the rainy season.  It reminds me of Miami.  The rain is pretty constant for about 3 to 4 weeks.  The only real problem for me is that I don’t get as much of a chance to ride my bicycle.

The skies were filled with clouds in all directions which muted all the hues, and let the colors pop off against the grayness of the asphalt.  The hydrangeas are just starting to bloom, another nod that the rainy season is coming.

The rains will come.  Droplets falling from the heavens will wash away our sins.  The rivers near my home will swell and turn into rushes of chocolate colored milk.

Be in tune with the natural world that surrounds us, even if that nature is filled with concrete and high powered wires.

I don’t need a meteorologist to tell me that the rainy season has begun in Tokyo, for the hydrangeas have signaled with their luscious blossoms.  As Tokyo waited and waited for the meteorologists to officially declare the start of the rainy season, the hydrangeas know it in their genes that now is the time for them to dazzle.

The hydrangeas come in all shades from a true white to blues and aubergines.  I adore the way that the large blossoms explode with burst of color over a period of days.  After they are in full bloom, the blossoms do not depart from their parents.  They cling on and show themselves for weeks, if not months. Their hues even can vary on one plant depending on the acidity of the soil.  For me, personally, the hydrangeas are a highlight of the brief rainy season in Japan.

The skies may be full of endless grayness but the rich colors of the buds luminescence in the downpours.  The sopping petals reveal their inner velvet hues.  Hues that awaken soulful memories of a mater painter’s brush.

The rain doesn’t bother my spirit.  All the much needed rain invigorates a greener Tokyo even in the midst of the dull apartment buildings and cramped homes.  I am joyous to wander in the rain with my umbrella and just marvel at the queens of the monsoon. The only bloom once a year, and that happens to be during the June downpours.  It is just perfect to me.

The hydrangeas are in full bloom.  All the various varieties have been soaking up the rainy seasons waterings.  Picking up the full spectrum hues depending on what nutrients that the roots find in the soil.  They might not seem as dramatic this year in Tokyo, and I would guess that we haven’t had the continuing downpours that we usually get in June.

These are just a few from around my neighborhood.  One bunch were just peeking over a 2 meter wall.  And the other ones were across the street in a neighborhood’s garden.

That rain is falling, the blue orbs of energy are flowing.  The thin door and the mailboxes keep on rusting.  The island to nowhere just is sitting there.   Holding that umbrella high and waving to a loved one on a train platform.

The whole world just seemed to take a pause to pull out heir collective umbrella and in vain try to keep dry.

The rainy season in the Tokyo area officially started today, and as if by clockwork the skies opened up and it has been raining all day.  Im not a big fan of the rainy season because it limits my ability to stroll around and take lots of flicks.  However, I still try to get out there and get some.  So these are my welcome images for the rainy season.

May it bring enough rain to water the crops, and fill the reservoirs, but not so much that it cause flooding.

Rain, rain, rain…

The rain came down in all shapes and forms today.

Just to get a couple of clicks in I had to dodge between

the droplets.