Tsuyu is the Japanese rainy season. It begins about the middle of June and lasts about a month. When a rain front starts settleing over the middle to the western part of Japan, the weatherman declares that "Tsuyu," the rainy season has set in. During the Tsuyu, we have a lot of rain all over Japan except Hokkaido. Hokkaido is the only place that has no Tsuyu, and they June is the best season to enjoy the traveling around Hokkaido. I guess most Japanese people do not like wet skies and humid air, but the rain is needed by the farmers at rice-planting time. Plants grow a lot absorbing abundant water during the Tsuyu. When the weatherman declares the end of the Tsuyu, Japan enters hot summer season.
photo source: wikipedia ajisai
