Monday, July 11, 2011

How do you stay cool in the summer?

It's hot! It's really hot. That is one thing that is consistent about summer in Japan. Well, there are probably more things that happen consistently as well, but I can't stop thinking about this heat. This is my fourth summer here in Japan and I never like this time of year. I try not to be a negative person. I try to be happy and upbeat as much as possible. I often walk around with an absent-minded/happy/vacant look on my face. I enjoy smiles, laughs. I enjoy puppy dogs and bubbles. I like happy things.

Summer in Japan is not a happy thing, unless you live in Hokkaido and then it's a rather tolerable and probably lovely thing.

This morning my wonderful son woke up at 4:00 am and decided he didn't want to go back to bed. By 5:00 am this morning he was ripping around the living room having a good time. I was trying to sleep on the floor of the living room, but had little luck doing so.

Normally, I sleep in a bedroom at one end of my apartment. Most of the year my wife and I crash in our bedroom every night, but in the summer things change for me. We have only one air conditioning unit in our house and it is located in the living room. Every June I bust out the futon set that we use for guests and stretch it out in the living room just before bedtime. I turn on the A/C unit and doze off into a blissfully cool slumber (and cross my fingers that my son won't wake up too early).

That's one way I cope with summer and the vile heat.

How do you do it?

Check out my video about coping with summer heat and leave a comment below this post telling me what you do to cope with the heat wherever you are!






I ended today's video blog in this alley. It7s a great little place filled with dingy and amazing little restaurants and drinking holes. I love this kind of place, but a narrow street like this in the summer with no wind is extra hot!



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4 comments:

  1. JY69July 11, 2011 at 10:07 PM

    the very same. we all gather in our bedroom, the one place with ac!!!

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  2. Stay HumanJuly 11, 2011 at 10:25 PM

    I usually eat ice blocks here in Perth. Did a similar thing to you when I lived in Japan... Though it gets hotter here in Perth, (often 40+) it's more bearable as we don't get the humidity (usually).

    On a side note, it's currently winter here in Australia, and today was the coldest day of the year. I'm presently sitting by our wood fire.

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  3. JamieJuly 12, 2011 at 2:24 AM

    It's funny, at my first meeting with my Japanese tutor she told me that Alberta weather doesn't get hot (she moved here 3 years ago from Japan) and at my second lesson she complained about how hot it was, even though it wasn't really that hot. It was +26 that day, before the summer is out we normally it's +32

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  4. LadySilverWolfeJuly 12, 2011 at 3:43 AM

    one way we stay cool. is to fill the tub with cool water and jump in just long enuf to cool off for a bit.. it again any time you need to and add more cold water as needed. ( like an indoor (tiny) pool. also put ice water in a bowl, aim fan at bowl, and tie small strips of j-cloth ( or thin rag) on bars of fan so they dip into water then turn fan on... the strips will wave in the breeze with icy water.. it does work not too bad

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