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Summertime in Japan is very warm and humid.  During periods of really hot days, the government will issue warnings about getting heat strokes, with recommendations to stay hydrated and remain indoors with air-conditioning.  There are hills and forests in/around the Miura Peninsula and Yokosuka City areas, and as a result, a large variety of insects become active during the summer months.  One type of insect is more often heard, vice seen, making keening/buzzing noises (sometimes quite loudly) -- it is called 蝉 (semi), or cicada in English.  Semis/cicadas spend years growing slowly underground, and then emerge in the summer and sing loudly until they die after only a few weeks.  The collective noise from the cicadas is a real symbol of Japanese summer.  Another sound which can be heard during the summer is the soft ringing or tinkling of 風鈴 (fu-rin), or wind bells/wind chimes.  Fu-rin are small bells made of glass, metal, or ceramics, and the clapper has a string attached to a piece of paper hung below which moves when hit by a breeze.  Fu-rin are hung in doorways or windows, and their soft chiming noises, caused by the wind, have a soothing effect and leave an impression of coolness.  Fu-rin wind chimes have been used in Japan since the olden days.  We hope you will enjoy the sounds of summer, but be careful not to get too much sun exposure!

Written by Goodfield