In the soft patter of rain, a little frog takes a rest on a hydrangea leaf. This scene of greens and purples appears only during Japan’s early-summer rainy season. Listen to the rain in your memory as you slowly fill in the colors of the season.
🗣 Conversation Starters — for care activities and family time
“How do you like to spend rainy days?”
“Have you ever felt summer approaching when you heard frogs calling?”
“What color of hydrangea do you like best? Do you have a favorite hydrangea memory?”
📚 Learning Notes — for classrooms and homeschooling
Frogs live near rice paddies and ponds, where they help farmers by eating insect pests. The croaking you hear in the rainy season is the males calling for mates.
Hydrangea colors change with the soil: acidic soil turns the blooms blue, while alkaline soil turns them pink.
Why do we see so many frogs in the rainy season?
Frogs absorb water through their skin, so they dislike dry weather and love damp places. The rainy season makes it easy for them to move about, insects are plentiful, and many species also lay their eggs during this wet time of year.
What colors do hydrangeas bloom in?
Hydrangeas bloom in blue, purple, pink, and white. The color depends on the soil: acidic soil gives blue flowers, alkaline soil gives pink. Even the same plant can shift color slightly from year to year — part of the hydrangea’s charm.
Why is Japan’s rainy season called “tsuyu” (plum rain)?
The name is written with the characters for “plum” and “rain.” One theory says it is the rain that falls just as plums ripen; another links it to an old word for mold, which thrives in the damp air. In Japan the rainy season arrives every year around June and July.
Why do frogs croak?
Croaking is how male frogs call for females. Each species has its own voice — Japanese tree frogs go “kero-kero,” while bullfrogs make a low “moo”-like drone. It is almost always the males that call, inflating a vocal sac under their mouths to amplify the sound.
