Other features which have a very large impact on Japanese climate are winds and ocean surface currents. The two largest currents near Japan are the Kuroshio and Oyashio currents.1 These currents are strong influences on Japan's climate, affecting the temperatures of winds blowing in from the Pacific.1 According to USAToday.com, the Kuroshio current flows north from the tropics, warming the winds blowing into southern Japan. The Oyashio current’s cold waters flow south from Russia's Kamchatka Straits to Hokkaido's eastern coast, cooling the winds that blow into Japan's northern regions.1 Both of these wind currents are maritime. These maritime currents are one of the many contributors to the high amounts of precipitation which Japan receives. These two large currents and many more greatly affect the amount of precipitation and temperature in Japan.
As you may know, Japan is a very successful nation economically, and this is mainly because the Japanese people are efficient workers. However, during monsoon season, Japanese cities are clogged with traffic. Due to this traffic, people are late to work, pushing back the usually efficient work days which turned Japan into a global superpower. Also, severe flooding caused by monsoon rains have the power to fill entire buildings with mud.3 Obviously, people can not work in a building filled with mud. Japanese society is also affected by weather. Ever since ancient times, Japanese people have planted rice using the wet-rice method.6 People who use this method plant rice under water. This way, floodwaters can’t drown the crop.6 Weather in Japan has affected the economy, people, and society of Japan.
Japan is an area with an extremely high amount of tectonic plate movement. This leads many people to think that the only natural disasters that occur in Japan are earthquakes and tsunamis. However, some natural disasters in Japan are weather-related. Just last year, a major flood in the Kyoto region killed 27 people and displaced 3,000 more.3 This flooding occurred due to torrential rains during the monsoon season.3 Not only did the rains cause flooding, but also they caused landslides.3
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Together, the flooding and landslides caused widespread property damage and relocation of people. Of course, the resilient people of Japan responded well to this severe flooding. First responders and volunteers cleared away debris and mud, looking for survivors and saving property. Without these great people, many more lives would have been lost, and much more property would have been ruined. These disasters may not be headline news in the United States, however, they strongly influence the people of Japan.
The atmosphere in Japan is not in very good shape. Pollution from Tokyo and vast amounts from China smother Japan in smog.7 This smog can be so thick that citizens are required to wear masks outside.7 Also, Japanese hospitals recently recorded much higher amounts of respiratory-related incidents.7 According to dw.de,
a large sandstorm in China and Mongolia has also contributed to the bad shape of the atmosphere over Japan. The sandstorm contributed to extremely high temperatures across the whole nation, with Tokyo reporting a high of around 78 degrees fahrenheit- the highest reading in March since records were first kept in 1876, national NHK said.7 This pollution is certainly not good for the people and wildlife of Japan.
Scientists in Japan may now attempt to predict earthquakes using the atmosphere.2 A number of stories about strange things happening in the atmosphere before an earthquake were widely dismissed. However, the