I arrived in Tokyo in January, spent a week there bussing my way around to explore the world's biggest city, standing in lines for ramen shops during lunch time and exploring the well-known areas with LED-screens, manga shops and scrambles. On my first rainy day I found myself surrounded by ‘walking umbrellas’, transparent umbrellas to be more specific. At every store and household, I noticed the umbrella holder filled with these identical umbrellas. They were sold in the street for a small price of around 500 yen. So, it didn’t take me long to join that trend.

As a Dane I’m used to rain and a lot of it but what I’m not used to is the sight of streets and entrances full of umbrellas to fight the rain. In Denmark we wear raincoats; very few are seen with umbrellas. In contrast, in Japan, the sight of a raincoat is just as rare as an umbrella in Denmark. After four months in Japan, I’m still impressed about how fast the umbrellas pop up when a drop falls. The organization of the umbrellas at stores, malls or hotel entrances is equally impressive where everyone seems to know which transparent umbrella is theirs. A local friend explained to me that there are always too many umbrellas in place because people tend to forget them so to him there exists some kind of solidary understanding that everyone contributes to the collections of umbrellas so if you forget yours, you can take one from the stand at the next exit. That said, if you ask a Japanese person (at least all the locals I have stayed with) they can show you a little collection of umbrellas.

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But why the difference in umbrellas vs. raincoats? I have asked myself that question many times while walking under my transparent umbrella. My hypothesis tells me that we in Denmark experience stronger winds making it more of a hassle to carry an umbrella, whereas the weather in Japan is often more conducive to using umbrellas. In Japan, many people use public transportation making umbrellas a convenient tool for short distances outside. A typical Dane uses a bike, where a raincoat will save your day when you’re fighting the rain. An umbrella protects your hairstyle, make-up and overall appearance, whereas you tend to sweat in the raincoat (that often gets very humid) as well as wearing a hat from the jacket. An umbrella must therefore be favorable for maintaining a professional appearance which to my understanding is very important in Japan.

So far, this is what I can come up with. Do you have other ideas?

This column is written in May 2024.

Rainy reflections: Why Japan loves umbrellas and Denmark prefers raincoats