I go running early almost every morning, and at that hour, the only other people I see on the street are coming home from bars or tossing buckets of water on the sidewalks in front of stores and homes. The bar stragglers make sense, but what’s with the water? A Japanese friend finally explained to me, and it made perfect sense after weeks of huddling under my always-on AC: the water was to cool the homes and stores, which would leave their windows open and let the cool air blow in as the water evaporated.
That, and possibly washing up after the bar stragglers.