There are so many good and interesting things in Japan, but probably you don't know much about them if you cannot speak or read Japanese easily. I will give you tidbits of information on Japanese custom,life and food. 
It is pretty rainy from June to July in Japan.
We call this season 梅雨 つゆ tsuyu or ばいう baiu. 
It’s humid and unfortunately we have many mold problems. 
I’ll let you know some ways to manage during this unpleasant time. 
Why do we call it as 梅雨 ’baiu ’ ? There are many stories that explain why we call as the rainy season 梅雨 tsuyu or baiu.
One story is that during this season we have many 黴 カビmolds grow abundantly so we call this season 黴雨 baiu. 
Unfortunately this word 黴sounds not very beautiful 
and so the word was changed to 梅 ume=bai 
. Another story is that in the rainy season, we can get many 梅 plum fruits and we call this season 梅雨. There are other stories and actually we don’t know the real history of this word. 
Big three problems ! 
It’s well known that we have カビmold problems in Japan
, but actually we have three big problems. One is ‘カビmold’ and other two are ‘ダニmite’ and ‘結露けつろwatery (moist) walls and windows’
It’s said there are 5-8 liters of water in a house with 4 family members. 
About 結露 watery wall, it’s visible in a winter, but we have it in a summer as well. 
When it rains and the sun comes out it increases the moisture in a house and that moisture typical condensates on the walls. It definitely will bring mold later. 
* I wrote about ‘mites’ in Sep 2006 on my weblog , please check it out.
What should we do ?
Room → Open windows as often as possible to circulate air. 
Kitchen→ Use a ventilation fan to dry the kitchen. Clean the kitchen well to avoid mold. Closet→ Keep dry inside. Use すのこ sunoko to make space between box or cloths and floor.
Putting some dehumidification devicess in the closet will also help reduce moisture and thus mold. Windows→ Wipe up the water on windows. Floor → Vacuum well, at least 3 mins. for 6 tatami-room. 
Shoes box→ Open door and let air in to the hall way where the shoe box resides.
Put some dehumidification devices in the shoes box. 
Bath room→ Clean dirt and soap off the shower with hot water,
then change to cold water and rinse off the soap. Then dry the walls thoroughly. 
Air conditioner→ Clean well and keep dry inside. Before turning off, change a switch from ‘冷房cool’ or ‘除湿dry’ to ‘送風wind’ to dry the inside. 
Linen & Futon→ On sunny days 
, dry them up outside. If there are mites on them, vacuum well to remove them from the futon. 
Washing→ Use dryer. 
If you don’t have one, spin dry them well and then dry them outside for 2-3 hours.
Then dry them near a dehumidifier or air conditioner with dehumidification function. And get wind from air conditioner or fan vertically. Furniture→ Make some space between a furniture and the wall for air circulation. Food poisoningIn the rainy season, food poisoning could happen.
If you make a lunch box, you should be careful about these things. 
Bacteria propagate near 37℃. If you cook, heat them up over 65℃ and keep them 5℃. Wash your hands well.
Don’t use raw food and heat up the foods well.
Avoid watery recipes. 
If you put rice into a lunch box, cool them well before putting in. Use 梅干ume plum わさび wasabi for recipes. 
When cleaning the lunch box, wash each part separately, then rinse with boiled water and dry them well. 
Use vinegar to wipe them up. Do what you can to keep your room dry and make yourself happy.
Life in Japan can be great, even during the rainy season !! 
