People of the Shadows

So, it is currently October in Japan. If I asked you to picture Tokyo now you might conjure up some image of the denizens of Tokyo all walking around in fall clothes while enjoying cool, fall weather.

You would be half correct. People are in fall clothing but the temperature remains that of summer. However, this week I started to notice an even stranger occurrence. I started to notice that people were standing in doorways, hanging out under awnings, with no apparent purpose. Had all of Japan decided to creepily hang out in the shadows? I thought this might be a re-awakening of some lost ninja spirit that was lurking in the hearts of the Japanese.

Sadly, I was wrong. I noticed that when pedestrian lights changed, people who were several meters away from the crosswalks, hiding in the shadows, would quickly dash out to cross.

That’s when I realized that people were not impervious to the terrible sun and its terrible heat, they are just infinitely smarter than me and infinitely more paranoid about not having pale skin.

Have you ever witnessed the phenomenon of shade-dwellers?