amitwagner
New member
残暑-zansho
i hate the summer in japan. take tel-aviv, add to it mosquitos, huge spiders and centipedes, cockroaches the size of small potatos, on top of that add the fact that you are allowed to throw the garbage only on certain days, a fact that couses horific smells. and it rains, and there are typhoons. think of all that and you can start to see why i hate japanese summer. actually typhoon days, as long as it doesn't hit to hard, are my favorite summer days. the rain washes everithing and when the rain pass all that remain is the wind that brings with it from many kilometers away, deep in the pacific ocean, some cool air and a few hours of a much needed relief from the summers heat. as the storm pass, summer comes back. september will come and the nights will be cooler so it is at least possible to sleep. the days as well become more bearable. and then suddenly the heat will come back for a few days. the japanese call it 残暑-zansho, late summer heat. the first kanji of the word is 残り (nokori)- remainder. the second one is 暑い (atsui)- hot. 残暑-the remainder of the heat. the expression 残暑が厳しい (zansho ga kibishi) is heard alot during these days. it means- the heat of late summer is harsh, sever. and it is. but unlike july and august, in which it seems as if the summer will never end, zansho brings me hope. i know that when it is over autumn will come and bring with it some clean, cool air and so many red leaves. some times it will happen in one day. a storm will come, the temperature will drop and this time, when the storm passes, it will stay down until next summer. zansho is here but in my mind i can already see those red leaves.
