Japanese Monsoon - the video!

[KyushuCalanthe]

I took this video last summer and have only recently had time to put it all together. It features the wet season in southern Japan, usually starting around the first week of June and ending in mid July. In the video there are 10 species of orchid, including the critically endangered jewel orchid, Odontochilus hastusimanus. Quite a few critters in this one too. Enjoy!

Japanese Monsoon

 

[MaryPientka]

Thank you, Tom.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Great! Some beautiful nature images! Love them.
I hate monsoon season though.
We have it during the same time period in South Korea.
It rains too much! Sometimes day and night for days!!!
The high humidity was the worst part plus some area houses were always flooded people lost homes and livestock, but the government never helped them.
I grew up in "drier" region fortunately, but still monsoon season was dreaded. lol

BTW, are those white flowers of gourd??
The ones that bloom at night??

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

BTW, are those white flowers of gourd??
The ones that bloom at night??

This species is a dwarf plant that is common in much of subtropical to tropical Asia - Trichosanthes pilosa (AKA T. cucumeroides). The fruits are rather small and said to be edible, but I've never tried any. I think you are thinking of its near relative T. cucumerina, the snake gourd. T. pilosa opens its flowers 24 hours a day.

Many people don't like the monsoon, but I for one actually do like it. Winter is the season I really don't like. I spent much of my adult life in Florida and lived with the nearly daily deluges there (never have I seen more intense rain, truly), so southern Japan's monsoon is no problem. Now, the rainy season in Brazil or SE Asia - that might be too much for me!

 

[SlipperFan]

The flower at the top of this thread looks like something from the sea! Very cool.

 

[Erythrone]

Wonderful!!! Thanks

 

[Migrant13]

Another fantastic video Tom. Thanks a bunch.

 

[troy]

I really enjoyed watching your video was my mini vacation thank you!!!

 

[abax]

Wonderful video and most of it sooo peaceful. The festival
did bring me out of my dreamy state though. What was
the festival celebrating?

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

I glad you all are enjoying it.

What was
the festival celebrating?

Angela, it was started a long, long time ago by a Buddhist monk to ward against disease. My guess is that the summer months in those days were breeding grounds for bugs to spread (like everywhere in the days before good sanitation, vaccines, and antibiotics), so epidemics were a real threat to large cities. The festival was created to protect the people. All the water being thrown is to purify the people, not so much to cool them off, though nowadays I'm sure participants are glad of the refreshing water - those huge wooden floats are really heavy!

 

[JeanLux]

Thanks for this excellent work again Tom!!!!! Beautiful sequences, and I enjoyed esp. the close-/closer ups!!!! And the cool umbrella ; was that yours? your neos?

Jean

 

[SlipperFan]

I loved listening to the rain in this video.

 

[abax]

Seems a bit counterintuitive to get large crowds together
to purify for disease, but it looks like fun anyway.

I love the water sounds too, although it seems to put me
into some kind of dream state that's very relaxing.

 

[My Green Pets]

Kiree! I loved Japan when I lived in Kanazawa. What a beautiful place.

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Glad you all are enjoying it.

Thanks for this excellent work again Tom!!!!! Beautiful sequences, and I enjoyed esp. the close-/closer ups!!!! And the cool umbrella ; was that yours? your neos?

Jean

Not my umbrella Jean - probably a school kid walking home lost it in a heavy wind. The neos are mine except the one high up in the ginkgo tree.

Seems a bit counterintuitive to get large crowds together
to purify for disease, but it looks like fun anyway.

Well, like many belief systems they aren't necessarily based on logic :rollhappy: Of course, back in the day you had to hang around the settlement, so there really wasn't anyway to get away from others. My dad used to tell me stories of when he was a kid when the town he lived in would close down due to plague or the like. Serious business back in the day.

Nowadays such festivals are just "part of the culture" and carry little real meaning beyond that for the average person. And yet, people flock to the shrines for good luck charms, to do well on school entrance exams, to have their new car or house blessed, and so on. On the other end of life temples handle all matters of death, and so are indispensable for funerals. That is the rule for most folks here, but when you ask them specifically what they think (even when they tell the truth, because most truth is hidden here) they will tell you they don't believe in any of the specifics of old culture. Surprisingly though, many do believe in ghosts and are scared to death of them!