What You Should Know Before Summer in Japan

Life in Japan – Issue 026

May 16, 2026

This Saturday article is part of the “Life in Japan” series.

Unlike the in-depth essays published on Tuesdays, this series focuses on everyday life in Japan, sharing seasonal changes and daily scenes from a more personal and familiar perspective.

From May 16, the Japanese calendar enters the micro-season known as Takenoko Shōzu（竹笋生）.

The seventy-two micro-seasons divide the year into periods of about five days, giving names to small seasonal changes. Takenoko Shōzu refers to the time when bamboo shoots begin to grow up from the soil. Within the twenty-four solar terms, it is the final micro-season of Rikka（立夏）, the beginning of summer. In the traditional Japanese calendar, we are already within summer.

Bamboo shoots spend time growing beneath the ground, and at a certain point, they push up through the soil all at once.

The name of this micro-season carries the energy of nature moving from spring toward summer. Young green leaves, damp earth, plants reaching upward. In Japan, early summer has long been sensed through these small, familiar changes.

Japanese summer has many charms.

Summer festivals held across the country. People walking in yukata. Fireworks rising into the night sky. Kakigōri, shaved ice eaten on hot days. Suikawari, the summer game of splitting a watermelon with family or friends. On some nights, food stalls line the grounds of shrines or town squares, and the sounds of drums and flutes can be heard.

In the scenery of summer festivals, yukata, and fireworks, traces of older Japanese culture still remain. For visitors from overseas, summer is also a beautiful season when they can encounter scenes that feel deeply Japanese.

But this beautiful summer is also a season of severe heat.

By mid-May, the number of midsummer days, when temperatures reach 30°C or higher, was expected to increase mainly from eastern to western Japan. On May 17, central Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka were also forecast to experience their first midsummer day of the year, and the Japan Weather Association called for caution against heatstroke.

In Japan, May still carries traces of spring. The morning air has a softness to it, and the green of the trees is beautiful.

But by midday, the sunlight suddenly becomes strong. You begin to sweat after only a short walk, and even during a brief wait at a traffic light, heat remains on the skin.

One reason Japanese summer is often described as difficult is the humidity, in addition to the high temperature. Those who have visited Japan in summer may understand this deeply, but Japanese summer is not a season that can honestly be called easy to endure.

In countries with dry heat, sweat evaporates and body heat can escape more easily. In Japan, summer humidity is high, body heat does not escape easily, and the air itself can feel as if it is clinging to the body.

You may look at the temperature and think it does not seem that high, then step outside and suddenly feel your energy taken away by the humidity and sunlight. Japanese summer has that kind of heat.

And year by year, this heat is increasing.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, Japan’s average summer temperature has been rising over the long term. The summer of 2025 recorded the highest value since statistics began in 1898, marking the third consecutive summer of record-breaking heat.

The phrase “It’s hot again this year” is no longer just a seasonal greeting. For people living in Japan, summer has become a season to enjoy, and also a season that requires preparation to protect the body.

Why Do People Carry Umbrellas When It Is Sunny?

When walking through a Japanese city in summer, there is one sight that may seem strange to people from overseas.

People walk with umbrellas, even though it is not raining.

In front of stations, at pedestrian crossings, in shopping streets, on the roads leading to shrines. On sunny days, white and black umbrellas appear one after another.

They are not rain umbrellas. They are higasa（日傘）, parasols used to block the sunlight.

Me taking a photo while holding a 日傘（higasa）

In the past, parasols were often seen as a form of UV protection for women. Today, more people use them regardless of gender, as a tool to protect the body from heat. In recent years, parasols designed for men, as well as lightweight umbrellas that can be used in both sun and rain, have become increasingly common in Japan.

A parasol is not simply a visual custom. It is a practical way to deal with heat.

The Ministry of the Environment promotes the use of parasols as a way to reduce heat stress from early summer through summer. It has also been reported that using a parasol reduced the amount of sweat by about 17% compared with wearing only a hat.

From an overseas perspective, carrying an umbrella on a sunny day may look a little unusual.

But in Japanese summer, it is a very practical form of everyday wisdom.

Protection from ultraviolet rays is also necessary. The Japan Meteorological Agency explains that when UV levels are high, measures such as wearing a hat or long-sleeved clothing are effective.

In Japan, sunscreen is increasingly being seen less as a beauty product and more as a basic preparation for spending summer safely.

What You Find in Japan’s Summer Goods Sections

In drugstores and department stores, products for spring pollen allergies gradually decrease, and summer heat-protection goods begin to stand out instead.

Sunscreen, sweat wipes, cooling sprays, portable fans, cooling towels, rings that cool the neck. In Japan, you can tell summer is approaching simply by looking at the shelves.

One item often seen in recent years is clothing and towels made with material called sesshoku reikan（接触冷感）, or contact-cooling fabric. It is designed to feel cool when it touches the skin, and is used in many products, including T-shirts, innerwear, towels, and bedding.

When you go outside on a hot day, the clothing itself feels a little cooler.

When you come home, you touch cool sheets.

A towel around your neck feels cooler than ordinary fabric.

Japan’s heat-protection goods have developed less around cooling the whole body with one large device, and more around reducing small discomforts one by one.

Cooling rings worn around the neck have also become common in summer streets. Some are chilled in a refrigerator or freezer before use, while others solidify at a certain temperature and can be used repeatedly.

Cooling the neck can slightly change how difficult it feels to walk outside. The Japan Weather Association also introduces neck coolers, ice packs, and portable fans as heatstroke-prevention items.

Another item often seen in Japanese summer is the small fan. Some types are held in the hand, while others are worn around the neck to send air toward the face. You often see people using them on station platforms, in lines at tourist spots, and at outdoor events.

Small fans do not create cold air. But by sending air onto the body, they make sweat evaporate more easily and can slightly soften the way heat feels. When you want to keep both hands free, the type worn around the neck is convenient. Some people use them together with parasols or cooling rings.

A handheld fan and a chilled neck cooler

There are also instant cooling packs that become cold when you hit the bag.

Because they can be used even when there is no freezer nearby, they are useful for outdoor events, sports watching, and long periods of travel. They are also convenient at fireworks displays and summer festivals, where there are many people and it may be difficult to move immediately to a cooler place.

Heat Protection Is Also Preparation for Enjoying Japanese Summer

There are many places in Japan that I hope people will visit in summer. Blue seas, green mountains, old townscapes, shrines and temples, festivals and fireworks held at night. There are landscapes in Japan that look beautiful precisely because it is summer.

That is why it is important not to underestimate the heat when walking through Japan in summer. Drink water. Avoid direct sunlight. Use a parasol or hat. Apply sunscreen. Carry cooling goods. Rest before you feel unwell. These preparations are practical ways to enjoy Japanese summer in good health.

If you visit Japan in the coming months, try stopping by the summer goods section of a drugstore or general goods shop before heading to a tourist destination. Parasols, cooling rings, sweat wipes, small fans. There, you will find the many small ways Japanese people have learned to face the heat.

Japanese summer is a beautiful season. To enjoy that beauty with peace of mind, please make preparation for the heat part of your journey.

—Written by Sumire