Thunderstorms?

Here in Texas, we have some very powerful thunderstorms from time to time with all sorts of lighting bolts and very loud, booming thunder. I have heard that there aren't any thunderstorms in Japan. Is this really true? I remember reading about someone who owned a dog here in the U.S. that was raised (the first few years) in Japan. Whenever a thunderstorm would come through, the dog would completely FREAK OUT from the sound of the thunder (since it's never heard it before).

I thought this was interesting and wondered how there are no thunderstorms in Japan (if it is true).

Not true.

We had one big thunderstorm in Kyoto last August with heavy rain while I was there. So Japan gets 'em.

But they do not get them near as often as in many parts of the US. As for the dog freaking out...that is normal behavior for animals...even though you may have animals that act normally during a storm, many others "freak out" when they hear thunder.

i'm no meteorologist, so i won't comment.

...

well it would be funny if i left it at that. but if you were to study what conditions are required for a thunderstorm, i wouldn't be surprised if america (or at least texas) had the more favourable conditions.

I was surprised myself that the Tokyo area had very few, if any, thunderstorms in the spring and summer of the year. I'm no meteorologist either, but I'd like to know why considering the conditions do seem ripe with the humidity and all. Does anyone know if northern Japan, including Hokkaido, receives frequent thunderstoms like here in the US?
Just curious.