It is the rainy season here in Japan at the moment. Although there are many rainy days, there are also many beautiful sunny days. There are two words for rainy season in Japanese: 梅雨 tsuyu, for the domestic rainy season and 雨季 uki, for other countries. I asked my friend Naomi about this. Uki's Japanese characters are rain and season, so are used for countries that have wet and dry seasons, such as Thailand and Indonesia. The meanings of tsuyu's characters are plum and rain. It is around this time of year that Japanese plum trees are bearing fruit. Unfortunately the humidity that the rainy season brings and stays for the whole summer, creates the perfect conditions for mold to occur. Mold can be very bad for health, but plums are a natural antibiotic, so the consumption of plums at this time of year is very healthy. Umeboshi, Japanese dried plums are very good. There is also umesyu, Japanese plum wine, that is also very good.
