Summer

Starting with rain and flowering hydrangeas, progressing to humid days filled with the sound of cicadas singing, and ending with typhoons, summer in Japan is a long, hot season. The Japanese have found many ways to make the most of the summer despite its intensity. Along the river banks the night skies are filled with fireworks, and wind chimes tinkle in the refreshing breeze. Kanten jelly and iced dishes are deliciously cooling, and pike eel, a Kyoto ryotei summer favourite, is at its best.