Watering the street?

[Jason]

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?

[saru110]

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

[Sakura]

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
Here is some information about uchimizu.
http://www.uchimizu8.net/lets/index.html

[Satsujin]

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]

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.....

[seanolan]

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!

Sean

[ddell]

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]

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]

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
Here is some information about uchimizu.
http://www.uchimizu8.net/lets/index.html

Sakura-san!

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