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It`s incredible how quickly the temperature in Japan has gone from cold to sweltering.

Last week was Golden Week. The week before that I needed to wear a jacket during the day and layers of clothing to sustain a comfortable body temperature indoors at night.

Now, just two weeks later, I require nothing more than shorts and T-shirt even in the house - a far cry from the six layers needed in the winter.

Japanese people are proud that they have four seasons but I would contest that they have but two. Swelteringly hot and freezing cold.

Or if I were being less pedantic, a long period of intense humidity and heat followed by a short spell of pleasantly mild weather lasting at the most a month (and more accurately two weeks) preceding a long spell of intense cold weather.

This cold winter not helped in the slightest by a national mindset of confronting the cold rather than retreating from it as most Westerners/sane people are inclined to do with central heating.

I`m from an atypical climate myself. We have two seasons – a rainy season lasting from October to the middle of May followed by a short period of heat occasionally broken up with large patches of rain.

The French have a joke about the English:

-How do you know when it`s summer in England?
-The rain gets warmer.

Of course I`ll take swelteringly hot over freezing cold anyday.

I bought a thermometer at the almighty 100 yen shop. Those following The adventures of Simon vs The Cold may like to know that at the moment (9:30 Sunday evening) it`s showing 9 degrees centigrade in the front room of our house.

As you can tell this cold Japanese housing is becoming something of an obsession of mine. I`ll have some more temperatures from different parts of the house over the next few days.

Tags: Japan, Osaka, Asia, Quaisi, Kansai, Expat, English

I got flack from my family about an earlier picture in which I appeared to be wearing two jumpers whilst the schoolchildren appeared to be wearing only shorts and a t-shirt. I let them know as I am letting you know now as well that I wasn`t wearing two jumpers, I was wearing a t-shirt, a long sleeved t-shirt, another t-shirt, a shirt and tie, a jumper and another jumper.

There is a reason why they are able to withstand such temperatures in such flimsy clothing. The first is of course that they are near super-human and feel no fear from the cold. The second (and more accurate) reason is the marathon. Two or three times a week between the second and third period, the whole school gets out and runs around the playground for ten minutes as in the photo above.

It definitely saves on the heating bills.

But it is impressive they can survive so easily in so few clothes. When I wake up I can see my breath when I exhale. When I wash my hands at home or at a school, I do so in ice cold water. I had a feeling that it`s a life of constant pain living in Japan. In the winter it`s freezing cold and in the summer it`s a life of oppresive heat and mosquito bites. No wonder there is a massive foreigner exodus out of the country at Christmas and in August.

Amy Chavez an American living in Japan who writes for the Japan Times puts it all more eloquently than I ever could when she says:

In Japanese houses, you’ve probably noticed that central heating does not exist, and instead, central refrigeration is the way of life. On one hand it’s nice because you can unplug the refrigerator and spread out all the vegetables on the bed. No more things rotting in the back of the fridge because they’re out of sight. On the other hand, you probably did not take the Eskimoing 101 elective in college, so you’ll need to learn a few things about living in a walk-in refrigerator.

Tags: Japan, Osaka, Asia, Quaisi, Kansai, Expat, English

It`s cold in these houses again here in Japan. You may think I`m exaggerating the cold and mock my feeble, weak body when compared with colder climes in Europe or America but it is the style of the houses which makes the difference.

In Japan, a a country where it is warm enough that you can wear a T-shirt for a good 8 months out of the twelve and for three of those months it is unbearably hot, houses are designed to reduce the heat inside.

That is why in the winter I can do as I did yeserday and drink a perfectly chilled beer without having to put it in the fridge and also why anenglishguyinnyugun who lives in a still colder part of Japan can wake up to find his olive oil has frozen.

It`s comforting to know that in around two months it`ll be warm enough to dispense with the table heater and in another couple of months I`ll be moaning about how insufferably hot it is but scant consolation.

Technorati Tags: Japan, Osaka, Asia, Quaisi, Kansai, Expat, English

I`m sitting here writing this in the front room of the house with a wooly hat and gloves on. The temperature outside at 8.00 in the evening has dropped to 6 degrees. This is nothing to those of you who can look at sleet or snowflakes falling outside your window. Here in Japan however they scorn on things such as heaters or warm running water and so I am here slowly freezing to death.

I feel like Stupot after his bike ride and envious of the Cosmic Buddha and his kerosene heated nabe.

Technorati Tags: Japan, Osaka, Asia, Quaisi, Kansai, Expat, English