dog days

Tokyo summer is sweating, and shucking off clothing until you're left in your barest skivvies if anything at all. It's cicadas (semi) thick in the trees and their lament thick in the air, their purpose in life to fill the close summer heat with the sound of their discontent and then drop dead from the effort. It's longing for lemonade and watermelon, for snow. Everyone is shining in a glow of perspiration, trying mightily to transition from air con building to air con building. Bright festival clothes are spotted in the streets, and folks flap folding fans in hopes of stirring up a relenting breeze.