Photo/Illutration Lightning in Tokyo (Asahi file photo)

Summer is the season of thunder and lightning.

Quite a few years ago, lightning struck near my home with a deafening clap of thunder, instantly destroying my landline phone. I'd been taught to unplug the phone as soon as the rumbling of thunder was heard, but I was too late to act that time.

I recently visited the NTT Uchu Kankyo Enerugi Kenkyusho (NTT Space Environment and Energy Laboratories) in Tokyo, where I learned that an experiment had begun to artificially control lightning strikes and protect homes and communication networks.

"When a thundercloud approaches, we fly a drone with an electric cable suspended from it," said Masato Maruyama, 43, the chief researcher. "This is the world's first lightning-guidance experiment."

The town of Uchinada in Ishikawa Prefecture was chosen as the experiment site. Situated on the Sea of Japan coast, the area is dubbed "Kaminari Ginza" (The Ginza area of thunder and lightning) for the frequency of thunderstorms during the winter.

Armed with observation equipment borrowed from the faculty of engineering of Gifu University, which has done research in the area, a team of six researchers waited on the seashore for thunderclouds to develop.

A promising result was obtained in late February. Though the team could not capture an electrical discharge between the thundercloud and the drone, they successfully observed a large current between the sea surface and the tip of the electric wire suspended from the drone.

"If we liken this experiment to climbing a mountain, we've reached around the sixth or seventh station," said Maruyama.

"Kaminari," "ikazuchi," enrai," "gekirai" and "narukami" are all expressions denoting thunder and lightning, and all are seasonal keywords for summer in haiku poetry.

However, NTT's experiment began last winter and will also resume in winter this fiscal year.

This is because in the Hokuriku district, thunderclouds develop at lower altitudes than in summer, making it easier for drones to get close.

The researchers hope to commercialize their lightning guidance technology by 2030.

While interviewing Maruyama, I thought about Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), one of the founding fathers of the United States, who flew a kite targeting a thundercloud and proved that lightning was an electrical charge.

The Japanese researchers are using a drone, instead of a kite, to capture a flash of lightning. I am pinning high hopes on their grand pursuit of scientific technology in challenging the god of thunder.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 28

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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