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shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

THat book recommended earlier - Embracing Defeat is perfect for you then Gordon.

drmweaver2 · Joined: 09 Jan 2004 Posts: 6 Location: Baton Rouge, LA, USA

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

What about ventilation? We get moisture pouring down the windows and at times down the walls, so we need to open the windows daily to air the place out. Otherwise there is mold and it's worse than being cold.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Gordon's caveat is a wise one to append to drmweaver2's informative post. If you do go that route and seal your place down against draughts watch out for damp and mold.

This is vital if you have tatami matting and stuff on it. If you have, you'd best check under it every now and then or move stuff around so that you don't keep areas draught free too much.

drmweaver2 · Joined: 09 Jan 2004 Posts: 6 Location: Baton Rouge, LA, USA

Remember that I was addressing a specific issue originally - how to insulate an apartment. I didn't think that a major discussion of all insulation-related issues was desired... Embarassed

So, here's the 50-cent tour of what I know based on a quick discussion with my HVAC/engineer father and my own experience.

Ventilation takes/took care of itself... Even with my "homemade insulation", there was no way that I sealed up all of the air gaps in any place I lived.

Also, my routine comings and goings in my apartments and houses ended up providing sufficient fresh air to ensure that no mold grew.

As for as humidity - use a dehumidifier. In an extremely cold climate, such as the Arctic, there tends to be little humidity - even directly next to a body of water. So, humidity was not an issue when I lived there.

However, as for condensation on the window saran wrap, that did occur occasionally - on the outside saran layer - that is, the layer closest to the outside of the apartment if I used two layers. But I have had frost on the inside of "normal" windows also... Never became an issue for me.

Mold tends to grow in dark and stagnant air spaces, at least in my experience. Simple solution here also - a small fan. Dad says that this solves the condensation and freezing on the wall problem.

As for the darkness issue, saran wrap is transparent. So long as curtains are not completely drawn, light enters most apartments. Even in the six month "nights" of Arctic Circle living, your normal use of lights should make darkness-related mold a non-issue.

This is, as I said, just my experience and a bit of discussion relayed from my Dad...your mileage may vary of course. Wink

drmweaver2 · Joined: 09 Jan 2004 Posts: 6 Location: Baton Rouge, LA, USA

Gordon.. I forgot to ask.

Where are you currently living in Japan? I was up in Misawa and down in Okinawa for about five years.

One other thing. I had a great relationship with my landlords. When I had any sort of problem like this, I used to be able to ask the landlady what she did about it in her apartment (she lived above me). Locals tend to have theiir own solutions and reinventing the wheel may not be necessary.

(Consider the use of baking soda as a refrigerator deoderant, using condoms to keep water out of rifle barrels in the rain, using nylons as air filters for engines running in sandy environments....)

People constantly discover new ways to solve problems others have...sometimes all we need to do is talk with those around us.

Celeste · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2004 3:05 am Post subject:

Gordon-

To insulate the windows, buy a mammoth roll of bubble wrap and a roll of packing tape. Tape sheets of bubble wrap to your windows and you will still get lots of light.

To insulate your door area, buy a cheap blanket and nail it up like a curtain on the interior side of your genkan (shoes area). You know how old European castles had tapestries all over the walls- this is to keep out the drafts. You can easily rig up this kind of "insulation" with some cheap blankets and some nails. (If you don't have any wood to nail into, you can use those little glue backed hooks)

cafebleu · Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 404

Brooks, Gordon and anybody else who wants to discover the real crime in Japan (not the so called foreigner crimewave that most of the time is racism disguised under media and political `concern` about foreign criminals), read David E Kaplan`s `Yakuza: Japan`s Criminal Underworld` published by California University Press. There is a co author and I think his name is Alex Dubrov.

This is a sober, academic study that will startle you by the overwhelming proof that Japan in some crucial aspects is virtually run by organised crime. When you read it, you will understand that we cannot really draw analogies between Japan`s Yakuza and western countries` mafia and other organised crime groups. It is a huge problem in Japan and this book explains where the Bubble Economy`s money went and why all ordinary citizens are paying and paying to subsidise this structural crime, its instigators and its collaborators in Japanese government, politics and business.

This book solves the mystery of why Japan is so expensive - this reality is not some kind of given that cannot be changed as we so often hear but is the direct result of deeply entrenched corruption here. I bought the book in Maruzen but I presume Kinokuniya may have it. If you cannot buy it here (and it`s likely that it has been censored in its Japanese version by book distributors refusing to handle it and I only saw the one English copy that I bought), order it from the USA.

It`s unfortunate that the ordinary Japanese people are denied access to such information as it would help to change knee jerk attitudes about `foreign crime`. It would also be useful for ordinary Japanese people to read it as it points out that the Yakuza have expanded to and are trying to establish itself in foreign countries. Truly an example of foreign crime - this time exported from Japan.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Thank you everyone for the moisture advice and book recommendations. I may look into getting a used dehumidifier. The condensation was so bad today that it formed a big pool under all the windows. I can't see how sealing windows will help ths problem. Sort of a catch-22, seal the windows to keep out the cold and then the moisture increases which leds to more mold. I'll try taping the window seals and see if that helps, it did for a friend. I did ask my landlord who lives next door and she never gets any condensation, but then her house is sub-arctic. I have a toddler so I do have to have the house a little warmer than usual. She already wears 2 sweaters and down booties.

BenJ · Joined: 11 May 2003 Posts: 209 Location: Nagoya

heh Gordon - same for me! Looking at my front door there is a big area of water leaking out of our apartment from condensation on the door... my next door neighbour has none...

buffy · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 57

You cannot forget the importance that amphetamines played in the post-war rebuilding of the economy. Up until 56 or 57 they were legal and supplied by companies to workers so they could put in longer hours. I think that is why they are such a problem in this culture now as they were once such a part of daily life it is hard to get rid of them.