The East Asian rainy season (Chinese: 梅雨, méiyǔ; Japanese: 梅雨, tsuyu, baiu) is the frontal precipitation cause by the meiyu or baiu front, a persistent east-west zone of disturbed weather during spring which is quasi-stationary and stretches from the east China coast, across Taiwan, and eastward into the Pacific south of Japan. The characters literally mean "plum rains", referring to the season when the Japanese plum (ume) ripens. The rainy season usually lasts from June to July in Japan and from July to August in the Chang Jiang and Huai He region of China.