Dave Fossett <reply@via.newsgroup> wrote:

> Pretty impressive thunderstorm here this evening. 

Agreed--I was trying to come home from Haneda through it. We landed
before it got there, but the monorail headed straight into it--it was
directly overhead at Hamamatsucho (simultaneous thunder and lightning,
in a continous stream), the Yamanote line was down and the Keihin line
was looking as if it'd follow (after each delay at each station, the
driver said he'd try for the next station, then see whether he could
proceed), and the Chuo line was late and packed far tighter than I'm
used to (but I did get a seat by being first in the rush when the train
finally arrived). 

> I was looking out of the
> window watching people rushing home from the station on their bikes with
> umbrellas bravely raised, and wondered why they weren't worried about being
> hit by lightning. It turns out that one person not far from here wasn't so
> lucky, although it sounds like he was on an exposed river bank.
> http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20030903ic25.htm

I think you've pointed out why--amidst tall buildings and utility poles,
there's not much danger of being struck by lightning (although I'd still
worry about being struck by debris if one of those tall things got hit).

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                   Louise Bremner (log at gol dot com)
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