Umbrella and Japan

What’s an umbrella? Yes, it is the thing we used to protect us from getting wet in a rainy day. The function of this thing is still the same here in Japan. Maybe in some country, Indonesia for example, umbrella is a ‘not so important’ thing. During my 4 years in the university, I only had one umbrella. I bought it in the first year, and I lost it in the same year .

But, here in Japan, umbrella is ‘taisetsu’ thing. It’s important!

Before went to Japan, I bought an umbrella. Not a very good one, but I thought it’s good enough. This kind of umbrella should last for years being used in Indonesia. So I thought it will be the same when I use it in Japan. I even thought that I won’t really need it. But I was wrong.

One week after arrived in Japan, I and my friends went out. We wanted to check Akihabara, Shibuya, Shinjuku and some other cities around Tokyo. The day was raining. Looks like ordinary rain, but it’s not. Later I know that is what they call ‘taifun’ here. It’s not heavily rained, but the wind was very strong and constantly blowed (which now I recognized as typical characteristic of Japanese rain).

And guess what? My umbrella hardly withstand the wind. Just within hours, some parts starts to loose. Hmmm, my new umbrella….

Lesson learned : Buy umbrella in Japan. Indonesian umbrella is not designed for ‘Japanese’ rain.

Yap, here the rain will be quite troublesome because of the wind. It’s strong and constanly blows. So if you don’t bring an umbrella in a rainy day, no doubt, you’ll be completely wet and feel very cold. Because the characteristic of the rain, umbrella become important thing in Japan. We can say each Japanese own at least one umbrella. Usually more than one. Because it’s widely used, it become a good commodity to sell in market. Here, you can buy umbrella almost everywhere. From a small convenience store to a big department store. From a mall near a train station to an office’s small store (my office has one).

The price varies. The cheapest one (and the most popular one), is the 100 yen (read : hyakuen) umbrella. In Indonesian rupiah, it’s around 8000 rupiahs. This one have a ‘not so good quality’ and usually get broken after one use in a heavy rain. But it’s cheap, what do you expect ? I have bought 3 of this kind and I lost two of them already because of rains. Rumour said, it’s not made in Japan, it’s imported from China. I don’t know for sure. The others have price which varies from 300 yen (24000 rupiahs) to 5000 yen (400000 rupiahs!!!) or even higher. But they have a very good quality.

What’s my gears? Currently I possess three umbrellas : the 100 yen, the 300 yen and the 500 yen. I choose based on the rain condition. My favorite one is the 500 yen one. It’s compact, can be put in to bag, light and has a good color : army green .