Terms appear on Japanese weather news

You might hear “Tokidoki” (lit., sometimes) and “ichiji” (lit., one moment) in Japanese weather news. What’s the difference between “tokidoki” and “ichizi” exactly? Both can be translated as “sometime”. In the weather news in English, these can be used as “cloudy and occasional rain”. Yes, simple enough. But Japanese has two ways to describe “occasional” in weather news. Here is the answer for you.

1. Tokidoki: more than 25% and less than 50% of rain.
2. Ichiji: less than 25% of rain.

Now, you can choose weather bringing umbrella or not when you stay in Japan. Listen carefully what a news caster is staying. Japan has raining season called “Tsuyu” usually during the end of May- mid June.