Samui ne!

Its cold. Very cold. Its not that Japan is so cold – not at all. In my town, its about the same temperature it is back in Jersey, and its nowhere near as cold as it is in Chicago. So why am I complaining about the cold – especially after having spent four (relatively) complain-free winters in Chicago? Well, its actually not that cold – outside. Outside its around fifty – which I consider really nice. Almost ideal actually. The thing is, it’s the same temperature inside as well.

The Japanese don’t insulate their houses. Nor do they have central air (or even radiators) I don’t know why. Many public buildings are also not insulated and also have no built-in heat source – including my school. My house is cold, but I don’t mind so much (except when getting out of the shower - *shiver*). I just put on some fleece, turn on a heater, and stick my feet under my kotatsu (a little table that has a little heater on its underside). School’s a different story.

Even though they close the doors and windows, the classrooms get cold – especially on a day like today when the sun doesn’t come out (another thing: almost all Japanese buildings have their main windows facing south so the sun shines in in the wintertime – my school is also designed this way). The kids are shivering. The teachers are wearing coats. The kerosene space heaters have been sitting in the classes for a couple of weeks now, but they won’t turn them on. Why? Well, they don’t turn them on until it gets colder than 10 degrees Celsius (50 F). So, if its 10 degrees in the room and everyone is sitting there freezing, no dice. But if you get lucky (and we did so today), the temperature will just break 10, and they’ll turn on the heaters. But they’ll only heat the room up to 18 C (64 F) – then they go off again. So, in the moments that the heaters are on, the kids huddle around them like hobos next to a burning trashcan. At least they save energy, right?