My students like to say that Japan has four seasons, but I tell them that they are wrong. Japan has five seasons. They look at me as if I am crazy. They were taught that Japan has four seasons at school, and the Japanese word “shiki” means four seasons. Then I ask them, “What about the rainy season?” In June and July, the weather gets very humid, and it rains a lot. To me, this is Japan’s fifth season. By the way, has the rainy season already started in your part of Japan? Weather forecasters say that the rainy season has started in western Japan, but I haven’t heard anyone say that it has started in central or eastern Japan. (120 words)