Air conditioner sales were low due to the long rainy season.

The agency said the rainy season, known as tsuyu in Japanese, seems to have ended in the Chugoku, Kinki, Tokai, Hokuriku, Kanto and Koshin areas.

This year's rainy season lasted 12 days longer than the previous year, the agency said. Compared with the average year, it lasted 10 days longer in the Chugoku, Tokai, Kanto and Koshin regions, and 11 days longer in Kinki and eight days longer in Hokuriku.

The rainy season ended earlier in Okinawa Prefecture and the Kyushu region, where heavy rains caused landslides and floods in July, as well as in the Shikoku area.

The Japan Times Weekly: Aug. 5, 2006
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