Weekly Topics/Archive
August 2013
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It's way too hot, you know.
Both localized torrential rain and extreme hot in various region in Japan
this year are
the abnormal weather phenomena.
Actually, these phenomena haven't occurred only in Japan.
According to news reports, they have occurred in the Northern Hemisphere.
This summer, even in Hungary and Austria in Europe, the temperature has
risen by as much as
10 degrees C as compared to average year.
There are several hypotheses as the cause for the extreme heat, but I'm sure it's the meandering
of the westerlies in light of the above fact.
Even if I say so, when I'm asked what the cause for the meandering is,
I can't answer it.
The westerlies is the wind that blows circling the globe at an altitude
of about 10,000 meters.
Accoding to this hypothesis, in the region of the extreme heat, the westerlies
has meandered
on the north side.
And so it was covered with high-pressure system from the high-temperature
region on the south
side and had the temperature rise.
It's no wonder that the high-pressure system stall over and get extremly
hot when the meandering phenomena continue for a certain period.
This year's heat is beyond mosyo, kokusyo, ensyo and gokusyo in Japanese.
At any rate, we are in the torrid heat every day.
Japanese people don't have Japanese term which expresses this heat.
So I made new term about it.
It's “Syousyo” that expresses the unprecedented extreme heat.
“Syousyo” means the torrid heat.
How about this new term ?
Now that I think about it, this extreme heat makes me make new term.
It's really abnormal !
Since it's too hot to go out, I've kept my house.
It's really annoying that it's hot till midnight even when I stay at home.
I could certainly suffer heat exhaustion in the absence of an air conditioner.
It looks like high-pressure system still stall over near the Japanese archipelago and we have
a torried heat for some time.
Everyone, make sure you're careful not to be taken into care by an ambulance.
[Note] unprecedented ；未曾有の, 前代未聞の, extreme hot ；猛暑
way too ；はるかに、 すごく、あまりに, localized torrential rain；ゲリラ(局地的)豪雨
the Northern Hemisphere；北半球, rise by as much as 〜；〜も上昇する
hypothesis；仮説, meandering ；蛇行, westerlies ；偏西風
in light of 〜；〜を考慮すると,〜を踏まえると, even if I say so；そうは言いつつも
circling the globe ；地球を一周する, meander ；蛇行する
high-pressure system ； 高気圧, it's no wonder that 〜；〜は当然です,〜は明らかです
stall over ； 上で停滞(失速)する, torrid heat ； 焼けつくような暑さ
mosyo ; 猛暑, kokusyo ; 酷暑、ensyo ; 炎暑, gokusyo ;極暑、term ；用語, 言葉
now that I think about it；考えてみると,思い返すと (= come to think about it)
keep my house ；(物事を避けるために) 家に引きこもる
it's annoying that 〜；〜は困ったものです, suffer heat exhaustion ；熱中症にかかる
in the absence of 〜；〜がないと, Japanese archipelago ; 日本列島
make sure you're careful ；くれぐれも気を付けて下さい
be taken into care by 〜；〜(の)世話になる
Japanese Diary / No.552−2013.08.14 / 「焼 暑」
According to the city's public relations magazine published on August 1, 2013, our city,
Kusatsu City, got to No.1 in the “2013 livability ranking”.
“Livability ranking ” is the ranking as civic power that was evaluated
from the five standpoint
of security level, degree of convenience, comfort level, wealth level and degree of dwelling
on the base of official statistics.
For example, indexes of “comfort level ”are as below.
●Sewage coverage on a population base (prefectural data as of April 2011)
●Urban park space on a population base( An investigation of Land, Infrastructure
and Transportation Ministry as of March 2013 )
●Ratio of the number of in-migrant to the number of out-migrant ( “Population
statistics of
Basic Resident Register” for the year 2009 〜2011 of Ministry of Internal
Affairs and
Communications )
●New housing starts per household ( “Construction Statics” for the year
2008 〜2010 of
Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Ministry )
Accoding to Toyo Keizai Inc, these rankings are based on the result of
investigation of 790
cities (789 cities in the country and Tokyo Metropolis ) as of June 17,
2013.
The result in Kinki bloc is as below.
■ The top 20 list of livability ranking in Kinki region
| Ranking |
Name of city
(Name of Prefecture) |
Comprehensive evaluation |
Deviation |
| 1 |
Kusatsu(Shiga) |
21 |
55.71 |
| 2 |
Ashiya(Hyogo) |
25 |
55.60 |
| 3 |
Minoh(Osaka) |
26 |
55.57 |
| 4 |
Moriyama(Shiga) |
29 |
55.39 |
| 5 |
Ikoma(Nara) |
30 |
55.37 |
| 6 |
Sanda(Hyogo) |
35 |
54.95 |
| 7 |
Ritto(Shiga) |
41 |
54.69 |
| 8 |
Takarazuka(Hyogo) |
43 |
54.64 |
| 9 |
Kato(Hyogo) |
45 |
54.57 |
| 10 |
Kashiba(Nara) |
46 |
54.56 |
| 11 |
Omihachiman(Shiga) |
52 |
54.10 |
| 12 |
Asago(Hyogo) |
53 |
54.07 |
| 13 |
Hikone(shiga) |
57 |
53.99 |
| 14 |
Miki(Hyogo) |
64 |
53.78 |
| 15 |
Osakasayama(Osaka) |
71 |
53.68 |
| 16 |
Settu(Osaka) |
79 |
53.60 |
| 17 |
Maibara(Shiga) |
84 |
53.47 |
| 18 |
Kawanishi(Hyogo) |
86 |
53.46 |
| 19 |
Koka(Shiga) |
89 |
53.34 |
| 20 |
Nishinomiya(Hyogo) |
92 |
53.31 |
(Note) Kinki's regional division; Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara and
Wakayama
(Reference) “2013 livability lanking”in the western Japan (Toyo Keizai's ONLINE) |
And then result in the country is as below.
Kusatsu ranks 21st even among all the cities in the country.
■ The top 25 list of livability ranking (comprehensive evaluation) in the
country
| Ranking |
Last year's
ranking |
Name of city
( Name of Prefecture) |
Comprehensive
evaluation
(Deviation) |
Indexes of Livability |
Security
level |
Degree of convenience |
Confort
level |
Wealth
level |
Degree of dwelling |
| 1 |
1 |
Inzai(Chiba) |
60.89 |
633 |
3 |
9 |
48 |
86 |
| 2 |
2 |
Nonoichi(Ishikawa) |
58.84 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
256 |
754 |
| 3 |
5 |
Moriya(Ibaraki) |
58.75 |
588 |
9 |
3 |
38 |
398 |
| 4 |
3 |
Sakai(Hukui) |
58.04 |
93 |
75 |
180 |
3888 |
13 |
| 5 |
4 |
Motosu(Gifu) |
57.97 |
198 |
5 |
327 |
309 |
56 |
| 6 |
7 |
Nagakute(Aichi)i) |
57.83 |
102 |
29 |
1 |
20 |
740 |
| 7 |
8 |
Miyoshi(Aichi) |
57.68 |
106 |
188 |
59 |
1 |
559 |
| 8 |
54 |
Sabae((Fukui) |
57.66 |
34 |
75 |
123 |
415 |
64 |
| 9 |
6 |
Tonami(Toyama) |
57.04 |
240 |
78 |
127 |
402 |
22 |
| 10 |
11 |
Fukui(Fukui) |
56.99 |
36 |
75 |
216 |
180 |
291 |
| 11 |
20 |
Minokamo(Gifu) |
56.95 |
38 |
133 |
2 |
241 |
488 |
| 12 |
9 |
Nisshin(Aichi) |
56.82 |
179 |
112 |
24 |
34 |
560 |
| 13 |
18 |
Kahoku(Ishikawa) |
56.64 |
257 |
11 |
140 |
541 |
37 |
| 14 |
10 |
Narita(Chiba) |
56.51 |
188 |
15 |
164 |
24 |
659 |
| 15 |
14 |
Tokai(Aichi) |
56.34 |
141 |
112 |
54 |
13 |
641 |
| 16 |
16 |
Tosu(Saga) |
56.19 |
113 |
73 |
10 |
171 |
584 |
| 17 |
13 |
Kudamatsu(Yamaguchi) |
56.19 |
175 |
8 |
155 |
153 |
514 |
| 18 |
17 |
Tyruga(Fukui) |
56.03 |
59 |
343 |
120 |
51 |
417 |
| 19 |
210 |
Nomi(Ishikawa) |
56.03 |
130 |
387 |
25 |
308 |
79 |
| 20 |
40 |
Uozu(Toyama) |
56.01 |
199 |
70 |
323 |
3355 |
82 |
| 21 |
29 |
Kusatsu(Shiga) |
55.71 |
375 |
14 |
4 |
77 |
699 |
| 22 |
15 |
Tukuba(Ibaraki) |
55.66 |
103 |
169 |
22 |
25 |
714 |
| 23 |
26 |
Kuwana(Mie) |
55.64 |
485 |
24 |
147 |
120 |
316 |
| 24 |
158 |
Imizu(Toyama) |
55.61 |
193 |
259 |
102 |
3599 |
49 |
| 25 |
21 |
Ashiya(Hyogo) |
55.60 |
592 |
20 |
231 |
122 |
596 |
| (Reference) The top 50 of “2013 livability lanking” (Toyo Keizai's ONLINE) |
Especially, Kusatsu City ranked high in the “comfort level” and “degree of convenience”, 4th
in the former and 14th in the latter.
It appears it was not wrong that I moved to Kusatsu three years ago.
If the coverage of cycling road were added as one of evaluation indexes,
Kusatu
might improve the ranking of “comfort level”.
By the way, what about the livability ranking in your area?
[Note] livability ；住み心地の良さ,居住性
public relations magazine ；広報誌, civic powe ; 都市力
degree of convenience ；利便性, security level ；安心度, wealth level；富裕度
from the standpoint of 〜；〜の観点から、 degree of dwelling ；住宅水準
index ；指標, comfort level； 快適度, coveragee ；普及率
sewage system；下水設備, as of 〜；〜現在での,park space ；公園面積
Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Ministry ；国土交通省
in-migrant ； 転入者, out-migrant ； 転出者,Basic Resident Register；住民基本台帳
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications ；総務省
new housing starts；新設住宅着工数, construction statics ；建築着工統計
Tokyo Metropolis ；東京都, regional division ；地域区分
comprehensive evaluation ； 総合評価, rank high；上位を占める
Japanese Diary / No.551−2013.08.09 / 「住みよさランキング近畿で1位」
Next month I will participate in the cycling event, “Awaichi”.
Awaichi is to cycle all the way around Awaji-shima Island.
It is predicted that strong sunshine will be still strong even in September.
Based on such an asumption, I went out to the shore of Lake Biwa to train
for a cycling.
We have been having tropical days in Kusatsu.
So I left home at 4 PM not to suffer heat exhaustion.
I cycle along the road exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists, “SazanamiKaido”along the lake,
to Karasuma Peninsula where is the turning point and then back to home
again.
Even though in the evening, it is still very hot.
I head for a windmill, “Kusatu Ume Huusya”, that serves as a landmark in
the peninsula.
A windmill, “Kusatsu Ume Huusya” as a landmark in the Karasuma Peninsula |
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Anyway, I'm sweaty all over in this heat.
Steam come out of my head when I take off my helmet.
“Invisible” bike helmets that female college students in Sweden invented
came on the market in
these days, I heard.
Cyclists don't wear this helmet but only have to have it around our neck
like a muffler.
As soon as they have an accident, the muffler automatically covers the entire head and absorb
a shock.
It's an ideal helmet !
I'm sure the head is free from getting sweaty
It was 42 minutes after leaving my home when I got to the Karasuma Peninsula.
I took a short break to replace fluid here on the bench and then cycled
all the way around
the peninsula.
At a lotus colony at the lakeside, lotuses have large flowers.
They are now at their best with pale pink flowers all over.
We can see Biwako Ohashi Bridge away beyond lotuses.
Also we can see Ohmi Fuji (Mt.Mikami) at the base of the peninsula.
Please click the picture to to enlarge it
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| A lotus colony in the Karasuma Peninsula and Omi Fuji (Mt.Mikami) |
I took a short break here with my precious bike GIANT's ESCAPE.
When I'm about to go home, my thirst requests something to drink.
And so I stopped at a restaurant “Rock Bay Garden”, where is at Michi-no-eki
(roadside rest area)
Kusatsu.
Yes, I wanted to drink this.
I left here at 5:30 PM and cycled along the cycle road, Nagisa-kaido.
Lake Biwa and Mt.Hiei on the other side are being enveloped in the gathering
dusk.
Today's cycing data are as below.
Trip Distance = 17.5 Km, Elapsed Time = 57 minutes, Max Speed = 27.1 Km/h
Average Speed = 18.2 Km/h
As I thought, it was so hot.
This was my first cycling in a while but I had no apparent abnormalities.
I'd like to have much training again in the future and complete the full
distance in the event “Awaich”.
[Note] Awaici ； 淡一、 cycle all the way around 〜；〜自転車で〜を一周する
based on such an asumption ；そのような前提に基づいて
tropical day；真夏日, suffer heat exhaustion；熱中症にかかる
road exclusively for 〜；〜専用道路, Sazanami Kaido；さざなみ街道
windmill；風車, came on the market；が売り出される
only have to 〜；〜するだけでよい, have 〜around one's neck ；〜を首に巻く
muffler；マフラ−(首巻き)、 be free from 〜；〜から解放される
replace fluid；水分を補給する, lotus colony；ハスの群生地,pale；淡い, 薄い
away beyond；はるか向こうに, stop at 〜；〜に立ち寄る
envelop ；〜を包む、 gathering dusk ；深まる暮色(夕暮れ)
have no apparent abnormalities；異常は見られない
Japanese Diary / No.550−2013.08.06 / 「真夏の湖岸でトレ−ニング」
 TOPペ−ジへ戻る
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