Those familiar with Kumamoto climate will have noticed this summer has been abnormally dry. Google sources inform that this is true but do not establish any long-term trends - that is, whether this is a “new normal” (a word I recently discovered is expressed in Japanese as 「ニュー・ノーマル」, inexplicably) remains unestablished by data.
Shirakwa has an unusual watershed, shaped like a balloon on a string, being entirely dependent on the Aso caldera and then contained in its banks to the sea. The lack of rain means it now subsists entirely on whatever the seven main Aso springs are able to provide, a sparse diet that has left it shriveled to its bones.
Your intrepid correspondent and very talented but slightly less intrepid photographer, Liz Suenaga, recently ventured out to capture the river’s ribs exposed. Though having originated from frigid springwater, by downtown, the temperature was eerily bathwater-warm; shoals of small fish darted about nervously as if aware of their peril (the egret footprints criss-crossing the exposed beach testify to their multiple concerns).
A tropical depression should bring some relief from the parch Wednesday. We can enjoy that, and hope that this drought is not the ニュー・ノーマル. Thanks to Liz for her kind help on a roasting day. - William