Japanese people insist that Japan has four seasons. If you hear them tell it, Japan just might be the only place in the world that has four seasons. Where I live in Japan, however, this is patently false.
One question I am frequently asked here is “Do you have four seasons in your home country?” To which I reply “No, I am from southern California. We only have two seasons, pretty warm and kind of warm.” However, what they do not want to hear, is that southern Japan, at least, really only has two seasons as well- uncomfortably hot and humid and uncomfortably cold and dry. There is, at most, a two week transitional period between the hot and cold seasons. These two week periods are labeled “Spring” and “Fall” respectively. (Or Autumn, if their first English instructor was from the U.K.)
No, compared to some places the summers here are not that hot, nor are the winters that cold. However, most buildings in Japan are not properly insulated. In addition to that, traditional Japanese architecture was designed when there was no air conditioning and is meant to be as cool as possible in the summer, and most dwellings still follow this general plan. What this means today is that during the summer, you are almost always hot and winter means you are almost always cold.
Many people, especially Canadians, do not really grasp this concept, and they say “Ha-HA! I am from Canada where in the winter it gets down to minus one billion degrees! You Americans just do not know what cold is!”
Well the fact is that they do not know what cold is, either. Most places where it gets cold, really cold, in the winter, people move from their heated homes to their heated garages, get in in their heated cars and drive to their heated offices or stores.
There is a reason that electronic, heated toilet seats sell so well in Japan. A general lack of insulation along with a reliance on kerosene heaters mean that if it is zero degrees outside, then when you wake up to use the toilet early in the a.m…. that toilet seat is most likely a roasty toasty zero degrees as well. In the words of one foreigner living in Japan- “Wow… where I am from we just heat the whole house.” I have, on occasion, found the inside of my freezer to be slightly warmer then the rest of my apartment. The refrigerator was down right toasty.
Of course, in the office the thermostat is run by the boss. All bosses only have two settings on their thermostat- way too hot and way too cold. Which they use depends both on the season and if the boss is actually present in the office. If the boss is present in the office, then the thermostat is always set so that in winter people are passing out from the heat where in summer, the occasional case of frostbite is not unknown. If the boss is not present, then the settings are reversed- During winter at most, a single candle may be used for heat, but only after the temperature has dropped below freezing. During the summer the aircon may be employed, but the thermostat must be set at thirty degrees Celsius. This is because companies in Japan view their workers like family, and as everyone knows, most people hate their family.
Since I have returned from Europe, the weather started as rather warm, but day by day the temperature is dropping and I am looking forward to a nice, warm California winter.
Repatriate 