夏と言えば海！

(Translation is at the botttom.)

みなさん、今年もまた暑いですね。みなさんが住んでいる地域のことはわかりませんが、日本は今年も暑いです。僕は日本では特に涼しい地域、北海道の札幌市に住んでいますが、札幌でも暑いです。

夏と言えば海ですね。海でバーベキューをしながらビールをキュッと飲む、これが我々道民の楽しみです。

前にテレビで見たのですが、夏に海でキャンプをするのは北海道独特の文化のようで、日本の他の地域では海でキャンプはしないみたいです。僕自身、ちっちゃい頃から両親に連れられてよく海にキャンプに行きました。浜辺にテントを建てて家族友人と肉を焼きながら海に潜ったり釣りをしたり、子どもの私は当然ビールは飲まなかったですが、それでも海のそばでキャッチボールをしたり、スイカ割りをしたり、夜は花火をしたり、とても楽しかったのを覚えています。

海と言っても僕がよく行ったのはみなさんが思い浮かべる砂場のビーチではなく、防波堤の上や岩がごろごろしている岩場のビーチでした。砂場だと荷物が砂だらけになって後片付けとかが大変で、しかも岩場の海のほうが魚やカニなど生き物がたくさん観察できて面白いので、砂場ではなく岩場によく行っていました。

息子が１歳５ヶ月になり歩けるようにもなったので、今年の夏は僕が息子を海に連れている番です。家に引き篭もることが好きじゃない道民の一人として、この北海道の海の伝統を次の世代に引き継いでいこうと思います。

みなさんにとって夏と言えば何ですか？コメント欄で教えてください！

Words & Phrases

Aと言えばB: "Speaking of A, it's B." This phrase is used to mention what is the thing that something reminds you? What does "summer" reminds you of? If I say "夏と言えば海", it means that it is the sea that "summer" reminds me of. If "beer" is something that is commonly associated with summer in your community or region, like "in my country, people love drinking beer outside during summer", then you can say "私の国では夏と言えばビールです (In my country, speaking of summer, it is beer.)"

ビールをキュッと飲む: to drink beer in quick and swift manner.

道民・どうみん: Hokkaido people (abbreviation of 北海道民)

〜よう: It seems like ~

〜みたい: It seems like ~

ちっちゃい: colloquial form of ちいさい, small.

キャッチボール: playing catch

スイカ割り（すいかわり）: a traditional Japanese summer game. In the game, your goal is to hit a watermelon with a stick and split it into two. You get blindfolded while playing the game. People tell you instruction like "turn left!" "go forward three steps!". You cannot see, so you have to depend on those instructions to locate the watermelon.

思い浮かべる（おもいうかべる）: to think about something, something comes to mind.

防波堤（ぼうはてい）: breakwater

岩（いわ）がごろごろしている: rocks scattered around

岩場（いわば）: rocky place

砂（すな）だらけになる: sand all over something, covered in sand

後片付け（あとかたづけ）: cleaning up after an event

〜ようになる: to be able to do something.

〜の番（ばん）です: it's ~'s turn.

引き篭もる（ひきこもる）: to stay indoors, to shut oneself in something

次の世代に引き継ぐ（つぎのせだいにひきつぐ）: to pass on to the next generation

Translation

Everyone, it's hot again this year, isn't it? I don't know about the regions where you live, but it's hot in Japan again this year. I live in Sapporo City, Hokkaido, which is particularly cool in Japan, but it's hot even in Sapporo.

Speaking of summer, it's the sea, right? Enjoying a barbecue by the sea while drinking a beer—this is how we Hokkaido people enjoy (the summer).

I saw on TV before that camping by the sea in summer seems to be a unique culture in Hokkaido, and it looks like people in other regions of Japan don't camp by the sea. My parents often took me to camp by the sea when I was little. With family and friends, we set up a tent on the beach and grilled meats, went diving and fishing. As a child, of course, I didn't drink beer, but I remember having a lot of fun playing catch by the sea, doing Suikawari, and playing with fireworks at night.

When I say "sea," it wasn't the sandy beach you all might imagine, but rather a rocky beach with breakwaters and scattered rocks. The sandy beach makes the luggage covered with sand and cleaning up afterward is hard, and the rocky beach is more interesting because you can observe many creatures like fish and crabs, so I often went to the rocky beach instead of the sandy beach.

My son is now 1 year and 5 months old and can finally walk, so it's my turn to take him to the sea this summer. As one of the Hokkaido residents who doesn't like to stay indoors, I plan to pass on this Hokkaido sea tradition to the next generation.

So what does summer mean to you? Let us know in the comments!