The Climate of Japan : Present and Past

This book clarifies the climatic variations in Japan from the historical period to the present based on documentary sources and meteorological data. Japanese society has suffered from various kinds of natural disasters since ancient times, such as floods and high tides caused by torrential rainfall and strong winds. They were described in large numbers of historical documents including official local weather diaries. However, all these documents were written in Japanese or Chinese languages, which prevents non-readers of those languages from accessing them. Also, Japan is a Far Eastern island country, and the unique features of Japanese climate and natural disasters would be unfamiliar and unimaginable to them without being able to read those documents.