The Great Sprinkle: How it changed us

It occurred to me that I forgot to check up on how the Great Edo Water Sprinkle turned out. A visit to the website reveals that while the target of a million participants proved too ambitious, a strangely comforting 340,000 people turned up.

I say "strangely comforting" because according to the organisers, they "estimated" the number by conducting a random phone survey. Now, I know infinitely more about lying than I do about statistics, but this sounds like the former to me. Were you confronted by the need to pull a number out of thin air to save face, 340,000 sounds like a goodly amount without being too unbelievable.

Nevertheless, in the four areas where organized events were run, it seems like 570 people using 1,510 litres of water managed to bring the temperature down a degree or so (the "two degrees" target has been surreptitiously dropped, it seems). Wahey. They're planning an Uchimizu Week next year, too. In a sense I think this would be rather good if it works, in that it will make walking around outside a bit more pleasant and reduce the need for airconditioning; on the other hand, the idea of living in a city that is slightly less hot but permanently wet underfoot does not fill me with enthusiasm.