Interdisciplinary Class on the Climate Environment around the Japan Islands in Association with the Seasonal Feeling (with Attention to the Transition Stage from Autumn to Winter)

The complicated seasonal variations are found in East Asia influenced by the Asian monsoon, resulting in the variety of “seasonal feeling”. For example, although the air temperature around the Japan Islands is still rather higher from November to early December than in the midwinter, the wintertime weather pattern often appears then due to the development of the Siberian high. In the Hokuriku District, the Japan Sea side of the central Japan, the shallow convective rainfall called the “Shi-gu-re” frequently occurs associated with the air mass transformation process over the Japan Sea in the cold air outbreak situation from the continent. It is also well known that the “Shi-gu-re” is often used for expression of the “seasonal feeling” in the Japanese classical literature. Thus the present study tried to develop an interdisciplinary class on the climate environment around the Japan Islands in association with the “seasonal feeling”, with attention to the transition stage from autumn to winter. The present paper will discuss on the joint activity of meteorology with the Japanese classical literature, the music and the art, for the class at the Faculty of Education, Okayama University, and that at the Okayama-Ichinomiya High School