Blog update time. I thought I'd tell you a little more about winters in Japan.

Usually it snows quite a lot in my area, but due to global warming (I suppose) it has only snowed twice this year and the snow melted pretty much instantly. Here are some pictures from previous years.

View of my school

Views from my school

Students making their way to school (above)
Snow being cleared in front of school (below)

Giant killer ice cycles hanging from the roof of the school.
They have to be removed every 2 days. Else they can become lethal.

Dude, where's my car?

and what about my bike...

Pictures taken at Kenrokuen park (the number 3 garden in Japan).
As the snow is very heavy where I live so tree branches are supported by ropes.
The ropes are attached to a central pole that is taller than the tree.

Despite not having snowed much this year, the temperatures are quite low at the moment. So the temperatures are around freezing and it had become much harder to get out of bed in the morning. This has several reasons:

1. Most Japanese houses don't have central heating due to the immense cost involved when pipes have to be repaired or replaced after earthquakes. So people use kerosene heaters (basically an open flame with a fan to distribute the heat) and kotatsus (a table with a built in electric heater that's covered with a blanket) for heat.

A Kerosene Heater

The kotatsu heating unit from below

What it looks like when it's being used by pigs - found this picture on the web

This is what it looks like underneath a kotatsu - found this picture on the internet too.

2. Japanese houses are not very well insulated as most houses are built with thin materials that can be easily removed and recycled after earthquakes. So all residual heat from the heaters quickly dissipates after they've been switched off.

So this whole set-up has several drawbacks:

a. The heaters turn themselves off after 3 hours to prevent suffocation, or fires if you left the house without turning off the heater.

b. The house has to be constantly aired out to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning and headaches. So while the heater is heating the room, the open window lets in cold air.

c. One kerosene heater can only heat one room at a time. So whenever you leave the heated room, it's like entering a fridge. Most people usually only heat living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms. Toilets and bathrooms are generally unheated. And that's why people have invented heated toilet seats.
The toilets often look like mini computers and have all sorts of built-in gadgets, like bidets, showers, dryers and devices that imitate the sound of a flushing toilet that can be switched on to cover the noise of escaping gasses. Some toilets even have built-in perfume dispensers to cover unwanted smells.

(I am actually quite glad these things don't run windows - who knows what might happen...)

d. The house is cold when you come home and it takes about 30 minutes to make one room snug.

e. The bedroom can't be heated during the night, so in the morning it's like waking up in a fridge.

But it's not all that uncomfortable since the temperatures rarely drop below -3 or -4 and it's easy to get used to. It's actually quite nice to be able to stick your feet under a kotatsu and have them heated.

Another unusual thing about winters in Japan is that they, at least in my area, use water running through underground pipes to wash away the snow from the streets.


It sounds like it's a bad idea, but it seems to work quite well and because the temperatures don't drop below -4 the water doesn't freeze. The only drawback is that it floods the streets. So it's not much fun wading through the puddles when crossing the road, or being splashed by passing cars.