Social Weather Forecasts
Yahoo! Japan Weather has got something interesting going on. I am quite intrigued. Have you ever been annoyed at the inaccuracy of the weather forecast? I know I have. I make cynical jokes about it all the time. Well, you can now press a button on your area’s forecast page to tell them what the actual conditions are. It’s sort of like voting for reporting on reality, I suppose. They call it “みんなで実況！今の天気” (Minna de Jikkyou! Ima no Tenki), which transliterates as “Everyone Real Conditions! Weather Now.” Ha ha. Let’s take a look. Here’s the splash page for the new interactivity.
Wow! So bright and fresh! So appealing! No login required! I’ve simply got to try it! Ok, that wasn’t my honest first reaction. My honest first reaction was more “whoa – what is all this about?” The promotional page shown here is basically meant to show people how easy they’ve made it to be Yahoo! Weather’s collective collaborative reality checkers. You just click the appropriate button, and the results update. You can use your PC or, as with most viral things in Japan, you can vote using your cell phone. Smart move. I don’t see why this hasn’t been done before. Considering how vastly complex weather systems are, and how much variation there is even in small areas, you’d think this would have been pitched years ago.
This is what the actual social weather options on the forecast page looked like. See the pre-visited little yellow and green leaf symbol on the upper right? That’s what takes you to the promotional page with instructions for use. (I thought that was cute – the yellow and green leaf sticker is what Japan uses to demarcate new drivers. Old drivers get yellow and orange. Don’t call it a chevron. It’s a darn leaf, or the colors make no sense.)
After you vote, the widget grays out. (I voted for cloudy -曇り- since that was my actual weather at the time.) The message it displayed along the bottom reads 「ありがとうございました。２０時３０分の集計反映されます。現在、集計結果が正しく表示されません。しばらくお待ちください。」This means “Thank you. The totals will be reflected at 8:30 PM. At present, the results are not displaying correctly. Please wait a few minutes.” You might have noticed that the widget had 12 votes before and after I voted. A few minutes later I refreshed the page and it had updated to 15 votes. (Hot diggity!) Not much action on the Imabari City forecast site just yet, I guess. I checked my host family in Tokyo’s location, and they only had 71 votes at about the same time. Still ramping up, it seems. Anyway, I thought I’d also translate the contents and captions for a few illustrations meant to further persuade you to use this new service. Here are the three provided examples that show how convenient the social weather report can be.
「今の天気」だと雨らしいから、傘を持っていこう！
According to “Weather Now,” it’s going to rain, so I’ll take an umbrella!目的地の実際の天気がわかる！
「天気予報だと、雨が降るのかビミョウだなあ……」。そんなとき「今の天気」を見て目的地の天気を判断しよう！Know the destination’s actual weather!
“According to the weather forecast…not particularly useful, huh?” In this situation, you could look at “Weather Now” and make an accurate judgment about what the destination’s weather is.
ケータイでみんなに教えてあげよう！
Tell everyone with your cell phone!急な天気の変化を知らせあえる！
外出先での天気の変化を実況しよう！ 例えばスキー場の天気がわかれば喜ぶ人がたくさんいるはず。Discover and adapt to rapid changes in weather!
When you’ve gone out somewhere, follow the actual weather changes at your location! For example, many people would be thrilled to know about sudden changes when they’re out on the ski slopes.
「今の天気」見てくれたかな？
I wonder if they looked at “Weather Now?”家族に自宅周辺の天気を教えられる！
「急に雨が降りだした」。そんなときはぜひ実際の天気を実況してみて。会社に行っているお父さんも助かるかも？Tell your family what the weather around your neighborhood is like!
“A sudden downpour started.” At times like this, you should definitely try reporting the actual weather situation. You might even help Dad at the office.
Granted, this system is just asking to be gamed. That image is from my host family’s area in Tokyo after a refreshed the page. Clearly, it’s mostly cloudy with occasional sun, snow, and rain. Ha ha. We’ll see if they remove absurd weather choices seasonally or not. In the meantime, I am encouraged. I might actually know what the weather outside is likely to be for a while. And I can appreciate that. 
