Mabi-cho, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, which was widely inundated by the torrential rain in western Japan

The torrential rains in western Japan were caused by large amounts of water vapor flowing into western Japan from both the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. In recent years, sea surface temperatures near Japan have been rising, and heavy rainfall has been occurring with increasing frequency. from the evening of July 6, heavy rainfall caused widespread damage in eight prefectures, including Hiroshima and Okayama, and the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a special warning for heavy rainfall. The day before that, a large amount of water vapor flowed into the skies over western Japan. Photo: Mabi-cho, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, which was widely inundated by the torrential rains in western Japan (9:37 a.m., July 8); photo by Shohei Izumi. Photo taken July 8, 2018, published in "Water Vapor Concentrates in Western Japan," Tokyo Morning News, August 5 of the same year.