( 17 ) 



The amount of rainfall thus ranges between 3 100 mm. at 

 Shingu, a station ;rv Kii Province and 691. i mm. at Abashiri, 

 Hokkaido. The heaviest rainfall in summer therefore occurs 

 on the Pacific coast of Kii, and it is the maximum in our 

 country. Next comes the Pacific coast of Kiushu, and Shikoku 

 in the O mote- Nippon, and the Provinces of Kaga and Echizen 

 in the Ura-Nippon. In these districts the total amounts to 

 over 2500 ;«;«. 



The driest region next to the north-east Hokkaido is Shina- 

 no, a province in Cent'l Japan; then follow the Inland Sea 

 Region and the Province of Kai. In Shinano, the total never 

 reaches over 900 mm. It is also under lobo mm. in the Inland 

 Sea Region (the outlying Provinces of P.izen, Bichu and Sanuki 

 and the islands) and under 1 100 mm. in Kai, a Province next 

 to Shinano. These are the drier regions of Japan, considering 

 the rainfall of the whole yeai-. 



Aside from some local disturbances due to topographical 

 irregularities, the rainfall seems to diminish from the south- 

 west to the north-east parts of Japan. Thus the amount in 

 Hokkaido is no more than \ of that of Kiushu. 



I shall now proceed to examine the conditions of cloudi- 

 ness and relative humidity. 



The variations of cloudiness are quite similar in their 

 phases to those of the rainfall. In the Pacific Belt it is little. in 

 winter and great in summer, that is, during the six months 

 from April to September its amount is above the average, 

 while during the other half of the year it is below the average. 

 Here however, I must mention some exceptions. The Inland 

 Sea Region, the Pacific Belt, as well as the west coast of Kiushu 

 in Ura-Nippon show some deviations from this rule, the' 

 minimum cloudiness being in November, and never in Decem- 

 ber. (See the Table) 



The phases of cloudiness are generally reverse in Ura- 

 Nippon being- very coudy in \yinter and comparatively clear 

 in summer, the monthly amount is under the average from 



