Winter in Japan

Hikone Castle

Winters in Hikone, Japan are much more mild than the winters in Michigan.    The average high for December is the upper 40's and for January and February is the low 40's.  The coldest it gets is usually the low 30's.  We have had quite a few nice snowfalls so far, typically around 4-5 inches each time.  From what I understand from the neighbors, they usually don't get much snow.  This year they have had more snow than normal.   

The rice field and garden behind our house

Most of the snow seems to come during the night.  It won't be snowing when we go to bed, just overcast.  A few times we have been woken up in the middle of the night with the longest rolls of thunder I have ever heard!  When we woke up in the morning we were all very surprised to see lots and lots of snow!  We were expecting rain!

We have had 4 or 5 really good snows.  When it does snow, it really comes down and accumulates fast!  It's also great packing snow.  The kids and I had a great time making snowmen, something we weren't able to do last year in MI! 

The snow doesn't stop the kids from playing on the slide and swing set.  Katherine and Killian love going down the slide in the snow because they go super fast!  Chloe thinks it's too fast for her, she prefers to swing! 

When it snows, everyone is outside shovelling their sidewalks and cement area where they park their car(s).  They will also shovel the snow in the street in front of their house. 

There are not many houses with garages.  Some houses have a covered parking area for their car.  Doesn't seem like it did much good for this car!

Since cars are parked outside, typically not covered by anything, drivers put their windshield wipers up when it is supposed to snow.  It's a great idea and I did it to our car when we came home at Christmastime!

At the beginning of December, we got a new car from Jeff's work that has snow tires on it.  Our neighbors were switching out their tires at the end of November for the snow tires.  I don't know what the difference between the tires is, but everyone seems to switch them.  I am curious to find out when they switch them back in the springtime.  I also wonder if we will be getting a different car this spring.  Many houses don't have much of a back yard (or front for that matter), just a few feet behind their house and that is where they keep their out of season tires.

We were getting on the expressway during this winter and we passed the snowplows.  I had to take a picture, they look like they mean business!  When driving, we also noticed bags of salt (I am guessing) on the side of the road near the off ramps and over bridges.

I saw some of the most beautiful snow covered mountains on our drives on the expressway.  The pictures don't do the mountains justice.

On our trip to Kyoto in February we went to the Heian Shrine.  There is a tree in front of it that is protected in it's own little house.  It was not like this in the summertime when we visited.  I am interested to know what kind of tree it is and why it's the only one that is sheltered like this. 

I took a walk to the downtown area next to Hikone Castle one morning after a nice snow.  Most of the sidewalks were being cleared by the employees of the stores.  A few stores had a water sprinkler running to get rid of the snow.  This surprised me because I thought it would turn to ice.  However, it must not be the case.

Whenever it does snow, it usually melts within a day or two.  It doesn't stay cold long enough for the snow to stay.   

So now you know about wintertime outside in Japan, let me tell you about what it's like inside during the winter.

First off, the house we live in is not insulated!  The only traditional houses in Japan that have insulation are in the far north where it gets colder.  Why this is, I have no idea.  Supposedly the newer houses are now being insulated, but the typical traditional houses do not.

The Japanese have the mindset of "heat the person, not the space".  We have an air conditioning/heating unit in each bedroom, the main living room and the tatami room.  The laundry and shower area, the toilet room, and the hallways do not have heaters and are far from the heaters in the house.  We keep the bedroom doors shut to keep the heat in.  We keep the doors in the living room and tatami room shut too, it would cost way too much money to heat the whole house, plus it's what the Japanese do. 

We put a thermometer in the hallway by the bathroom and it's usually somewhere in the low to mid 50's, depending on the weather outside.  When it's windy, it's usually the low 50's. We keep our heated rooms at 22 degrees Celsius (around 70 Fahrenheit).  However, when it's in the low 30's and windy outside, it feels much cooler than 70.  Thankfully we brought two space heaters with us, which help out a lot!

When it's in the low 30's we will put a space heater by the bathroom in the hallway.  Trust me, it's a real shock to your system to go from 70 to 50!  I am telling you this, but you really probably won't understand it until you experience it.  My mom came back in January to visit and we warned her about how cold it would be.  She didn't realize what we meant until she got here.  She was very surprised at how cold it gets inside and that it's considered normal over here. 

When taking a shower, you need to get the hot water running for a few minutes just to warm up the room!  The floor by the tub is freezing.  I have to jump from foot to foot when getting ready for the shower or else my feet hurt from the cold.  I do have the space heater set up by the washing machine, just outside the bathtub, so when I get out of the shower it's not completely freezing.  I used to not like getting out of the shower in a heated house because it felt cold, I will never complain about that again!  You do get used to it though and it's really not too bad.

The area next to the washing machine also has the sink we use to brush our teeth.  Like I mentioned before, we typically don't heat the space because we are in there for only a few minutes at a time and it's not worth it to heat it constantly.  When standing in front of the mirror brushing, I can actually feel the heat from the lights over the mirror!  Yes, it's that chilly!

I have never felt such cold water from a sink before coming to Japan.  It is like ice water.  My hands hurt if I try washing them before the water heats up (which takes a little time).  When brushing my teeth, the water hurts my teeth  too because it is so cold!  On the flip side, the water was never really cold in the summertime, it was always warm.  I guess the temperature of the water is greatly influenced by the temperature outside.   

Jeff and I were very thankful we each got a new robe for Christmas.  Our other robes had been packed up and put in storage when we moved.  Slippers are a must too!  We are just on a cement slab and your feet get very cold on the hardwood floor without slippers.  We ended up buying some slippers in late November, we couldn't wait for Christmas.

Since the Japanese believe in heating the person, not the space, they have come up with some interesting ways of staying warm.

My favorite is the heated seat when going to the bathroom!  I can't imagine what it would be like without the heated seat!  I have a much better understanding for what it would be like to use an outhouse, especially in the winter!  It is rough in the middle of the night to go into the unheated hallway to use the bathroom.  Oh well, at least I know a part of me will be warm!  (On the same note, I thought I was going to melt this past summer because we didn't know how to turn the heated seat off, and it was 90 degrees or more with high humidity).

Another example of heating the person not the space is with these kotatsu tables.  The picture is the underside of the table.  You can see the electric heater in the center of the table.  These tables are low to the ground and can be used for eating.  The table top separates from the legs of the table so that blankets can be added for the wintertime. 

These are two examples of blankets that cover the kotatsu table.  The blankets can be warmed from the heated table.  The Japanese people will sit around the table with the blankets on their laps to stay warm.  Our neighbors will also sit around the table with the blankets on to watch television. 

There are a few different ways to heat your house in the winter.  There are the wall units that we have.  You can see it in the picture above over the couch.

There are also space heaters, we brought ours from home, but I saw this device at the store.  It's a tube you can hook up to your heater to direct the heat to a specific place, your feet, for example, when in the kitchen. 

You can also have a kerosene heater in your house.  They sell the gas for them at the gas stations.  Our neighbors keep their gas right by the front door of their house.  There are several different types of kerosene heaters for the home.  Some have features that automatically shut off after a few hours to protect the sleeping home owners from carbon monoxide poisoning.  Other features include automatic shut off of the fire and stopping the fuel supply if shaken (in the event of an earthquake or an accident).  Thank goodness we don't have these heaters in our house, it would make me nervous with the kids always running around!  They do keep the house nice and toasty though, we visited our neighbors and it was nice and warm inside.  (Granted it was a pretty nice day outside too).

Another aspect of life in Japan that has changed in the wintertime is the laundry.  Clothes take much longer to dry in the cooler weather, no matter if they are hung inside or outside.  It was frustrating at first because I wanted to get the laundry done and put away, but it was still damp.  I couldn't wash more clothes because I didn't have space to hang them!  It can take up to two days for some of the clothes to dry.  I even have them in front of the space heater and fan.

If it was a sunny day I would still hang the laundry outside to dry.  I figured if my neighbors do it, why shouldn't I? I did however notice there were a lot more birds outside than usual in January. They left me all kinds of little presents on the balcony, so I decided to move the laundry indoors! 

When it's snowy or rainy I obviously have to move the laundry hanging indoors.  I have limited space to hang the clothes, but I do the best I can.  I know I will be doing this during rainy season as well (it rains everyday!).   Towels are tricky because they take up so much space and take a while to dry.  Our neighbors have a second curtain rod over each window to hang laundry on.  They also have little tension rods around the house to hang up more laundry.  I check out all this stuff whenever we go inside our neighbors house, I try not to be obvious, but I am so curious how they do things!

That about wraps things up with living in Japan during the winter!  Hope you learned a few things and enjoy living in your heated house!