Rainy season begins in wide areas of central, western Japan, ends in Okinawa early

A Japan Meteorological Agency sign is seen in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. (Mainichi/Shinji Kurokawa)

The Japan Meteorological Agency announced June 9 that the Tokai region in central Japan’s Pacific Ocean side, as well as the Kinki and Chugoku regions in the west, are believed to have entered the rainy season.

This onset is three days later than an average year for all three regions. Compared to last year, the rainy season began 12 days earlier in Tokai, eight days prior in Kinki and 11 days sooner in Chugoku.

On June 8, the northern part of southwest Japan’s Kyushu region and the Shikoku region in the west also entered the wet season, while the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa is thought to have experienced the first end of the rainy season in the country.

The onset of the wet season in northern Kyushu was four days later than usual but nine days earlier than last year. In Shikoku, it was three days later than average and nine days earlier than last year. Okinawa’s end of the rainy season was 13 days earlier than an average year and 12 days prior than in 2024.

(Japanese original by Kazuki Mogami, Tokyo City News Department; and Azusa Yamazaki, Kyushu News Department)