Phil... you might have been refering to the Roppongi(sp) district. To be honest, the Japanese tradition of drinking a few beers with your dinner does help you take it more in stride. The funny thing is though., once these storms go thru, they seem to go thru quick, and its absolutely beautiful the next day. In fact, after the last one i still caught my flight out of Narita the next day. In Florida there seems to be all this left over residue after one goes thru. And you are right... they are generally weaker once they hit up there with the exception of Okinawa.