In the old times, before the air conditioning, the Japanese people developed traditional ways to help cooling off during hot summer days… One very interesting technique, still largely practiced, is the use of the traditional furin.
Another one is uchimizu 「打ち水」, a typical Japanese traditional custom which consists in splashing water over the pavement in front of the stores, houses, shrines, temples or inside the Japanese gardens. Traditionally,uchimizu is done by using a bucket and a wooden ladle, by people dressed in the traditional yukata. An interesting detail is that the water used for uchimizu is not tap water, but recycled or rain water…
But one day a year, at the beginning of August, in Akihabara, in front of the UDX skyscraper, takes place a very special uchimizu, performed by girls dressed in… maid outfit, the famous Akihabara maids:
The Akihabara maids, the girls dressed in unusual outfits distributing leaflets advertising the maid cafés (メイドカフェ, Meido kafe) are one of the Akihabara attractions. In time, I became so accustomed to their presence that I have the feeling that they were always part of Tokyo’s life. But the maid cafés are actually a recent phenomenon.