どうなっちゃってるの今年の夏 (Dō natchatteru no kotoshi no natsu, What's up with this summer?).
For the past three months, this phrase was pretty much the standard icebreaker among friends, colleagues and family all over the archipelago. The summer of 2018 is one for the books — busting meteorological records, wreaking havoc and devastating entire regions along the coast of western Japan.
To tally up, there was 西日本豪雨 (nishi-Nihon gōu, heavy rain in western Japan) followed by 災害級の暑さ (saigaikyū no atsusa, catastrophic heat) and a total of 23 typhoons, nine of which occurred in August. Most recently, there was the 北海道地震 (Hokkaidō jishin, Hokkaido earthquake), accompanied by epic 土砂災害 (doshasaigai, mudslides) that even caused a mountain to collapse by several hundred meters. Politicians and celebrities repeatedly intoned: 被災された皆さまに心よりお悔やみ申し上げます(Hisai sareta mina-sama ni kokoro yori o-kuyami mōshi-agemasu, I offer my deepest condolences to all the victims).