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Watering the street?

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Jason
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Watering the street?

Postby Jason » May 2nd, 2006 9:57 pm

I've often seen in anime and j-dramas (all 2 that I've seen) a person, usually a woman, standing in the street outside their house or store with a bucket of water and a ladel throwing water into the street. What's up with that?
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saru110
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watering the street

Postby saru110 » May 10th, 2006 1:34 pm

hi there
im not so sure about this one...but i believe it happens in summer and it is supposed to make your house seem more hospitable..or look mare attractive. i dont know but i do it!!ha ha ha
if anyone knows better please let me know

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Sakura
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Postby Sakura » May 11th, 2006 8:21 am

That is called "uchimizu" (打ち水). Throwing water in front of the entrance to ease the heat and keep down the dust. saru110-san is right about hospitality, because I think it used to be done to welcome guests. When you are actually walking on the street in summer and come to a place wet with uchimizu, you feel very cool and refreshed :P
Here is some information about uchimizu.
http://www.uchimizu8.net/lets/index.html
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Satsujin
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Postby Satsujin » May 15th, 2006 4:07 pm

Sakura is right...although it was more traditionally seen as hospitality climate change has made it even more usuful as a means of dealing with the heat. All the cement in large urban centers act as big batteries for the daytime sweltering heat in places like Tokyo which is why the cities tend to be 2-3 degrees hotter than the surrounding country side. This makes it hot in the city in the daytime and at night. Throwing water on the streets helps disappate some of this heat as the energy gets taken up by the water as it evaporates. If everyone in a city does this it can actually have a really big impact on the temperature in the city.

As the incidence of heat waves increases I wouldn't be surprised if you start to see cities install automatic sprinklers just to soak the streets and lower the cities temperatures.

CrazySwayzee
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Postby CrazySwayzee » September 3rd, 2006 3:36 am

This is a very smart idea,

and it sure is an effective way to fight the summer heat!

If only we could incorporate this in the west somehow..... 8)

seanolan
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Postby seanolan » September 21st, 2006 12:50 am

Satsujin wrote:As the incidence of heat waves increases I wouldn't be surprised if you start to see cities install automatic sprinklers just to soak the streets and lower the cities temperatures.


LOL...not sure about the hotter areas, but in the northern areas, they have automatic sprinklers to melt the snow (it doesn't work, but that doesn't stop them!)

You will see completely iced-over roads up here in the north...but they are snow free! :D

Sean

ddell
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Re: Watering the street?

Postby ddell » May 29th, 2007 6:48 am

Jason wrote:I've often seen in anime and j-dramas (all 2 that I've seen) a person, usually a woman, standing in the street outside their house or store with a bucket of water and a ladel throwing water into the street. What's up with that?

I've seen this done in Taiwan and also Asian neighborhoods here in California. It's not the power wash we might do to wash off the sidewalk, but it does seem to make it cooler -- especially if the sidewalk is in the sun.

untmdsprt
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Postby untmdsprt » May 30th, 2007 12:51 am

Whatever happened to planting a tree? I know it's hard to do in Japan, but what about having lots of plants in your apt? Does that help?

Ulver_684
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Postby Ulver_684 » June 8th, 2007 7:54 pm

Sakura wrote:That is called "uchimizu" (打ち水). Throwing water in front of the entrance to ease the heat and keep down the dust. saru110-san is right about hospitality, because I think it used to be done to welcome guests. When you are actually walking on the street in summer and come to a place wet with uchimizu, you feel very cool and refreshed :P
Here is some information about uchimizu.
http://www.uchimizu8.net/lets/index.html


Sakura-san! :wink:

Welcome to the forums, it's good to have you back after a long year of absence!! 8) :wink:

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