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parrothead · Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 342 Location: Japan

Temperature-wise, Northern Honshu isn't as cold as many people make it out to be. Nothing like the American heartland, which is like the center of a frozen turkey. What does make N. Honshu challenging is the way many offices and apartments are heated. This morning I woke to the sight of my own breath, clicked on my kerosene heater and waited 20 minutes to heat one room. In the winter I have to resign myself to living in mostly one part of the apartment.

flyer · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 539 Location: Sapporo Japan

that sounds like an old apartment. The new ones have much better insulation, a world apart
I had that problem too

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

I used to live in a place like that in Tokyo- it was at least 40 years old and was actually colder inside than out. In summer of course it was an inferno.

I now live in a new building just down the road (the old place has since been demolished), and it is so much better. I will never live in a place that old again if I can help it.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Sounds like you didn't learn how to program the heater to turn on 10-15 minutes before you wanted to get up. Would've made a big difference.

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

I do in fact know how to program a heater, Glenski, but that's no help if you don't have one. All I had was a cheap space heater with no programming option. The house had no built-in heating/ air-con whatsoever, or insulation for that matter, but it did have lots of little cracks and spaces for cold air to get in.

gaijinalways · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 2279

Aspara posted

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

I still loathe the summers too after 10 years in the Kanto area. That is more of a mental thing you are talking about, whereas what I mean is genuine physiological acclimatisation, where your body actually adapts slightly to the weather. Things like increased/decreased heart rate and blood pressure, more efficient sweating etc. By the third week or so of heat you aren't suffering quite as much as you would be if you had just arrived directly from a cooler temperature. The same goes for very cold weather.

The most striking example of this for me was when I first came to Japan and worked a winter in Nagano. Most days the temp was around minus 15 degrees, far and away colder than anything I had ever experienced. After two months or so we had a "warm spell" where the temp went right up to zero degrees. I genuinely felt that the air was warm those couple of days, whereas now that I am not acclimatised to such temperatures, if it was 0 degrees right now I would think I was about to freeze to death.

You can't actually acclimatise for 16 years- because of the fluctuations of temperature here your body has to do it all over again from scratch every season.