FEATURE: Cool sounds help lift the oppressive heat of summer.

Publication: Japan Weekly Monitor

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COPYRIGHT 2001 Kyodo News International, Inc.

TOKYO, Aug. 21 Kyodo

Summertime, and the livin' is easy.

So goes the old song. Well, I beg to differ. When it's summertime in Japan, the living is anything but easy for me and lots of other people who find the heat and humidity horrifically oppressive.

Now, there are certain tried and true ways of coping with the heat. The most obvious one is air conditioning. Going for a swim in the pool or at the beach is another.

And of course there is nothing like a nice cold beer to beat the heat. But it's important to chill out psychologically as well as physically during the summer. Anyone who rides the trains or subways knows how irritable people are during the summer months....

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