Cut to our first September here last year - we waded through the watery air everyday looking at houses; we wrung our clothes out every night; we melted into the sidewalk and downed sugary cherry drinks so we wouldn't fall over in a stupor... But I still wasn't convinced! I thought it was only because we had no car yet and had to walk everywhere. I thought it was because we were stomping around urban Japan for hours on end with no respite in sight. Ohhhhh, how wrong I was!
Here are a few facts about Japanese construction: 1) The materials are very light and organic - paper and wood are used to create traditional Japanese homes. 2) There is no insulation in buildings. Repeat: there is no insulation in buildings. 3) There is no central AC or heat. Each room is cooled or heated individually with either kerosene or what amounts to what we think of as window units (although more sturdy and mounted on walls, usually.)
The reasons for all of this are many and somewhat baffling to foreigners: 1) the Japanese are extremely efficient people - why heat an entire house when you are only using 1 or 2 rooms at a time? 2) There is a great sense of community here - they actually (for real) like to sit around the table and hang out in the winter with heaters under their feet. In fact, in traditional homes (which ours is not), there is a space in the floor of each tatami room where you can put a heater. people put a table over this space and sit around it eating dinner in the winter. They also have "hot pot" meals (ShabuShabu) on this table so they have a giant steaming bowl of broth in front of them to communally cook their dinner. 3) Cost - building a house with central air costs more than building one without.
What all of this together means is that in the summer it is not only hot and humid, but it also means it is there is little respite from the heat and humidity. Cooling off the house is a huge endeavor, as is keeping it cool because all of that cool air goes right out of the single-paned windows and flimsy walls. It also means that our electricity bill last month was $450 - yowza! Fortunately, that is the highest I have seen - in the winter the worst I saw was $250.
But the very best part of the whole thing is that houses will MOLD if you don't stay on top of all of this. No, really, I have seen it. We have 4 (FOUR) dehumidifiers, and they have been running 24/7 since June. (Thank you, Megan, for taking pity and donating 2 of them to us!) They fill up with water (and have to be emptied out) in a matter of hours. I have devoted an entire one of these machines to the shower room because, even in the winter (you know, when people are usually using humidifiers because it gets so dry) that room was moldy. I was fighting a losing battle with that shower room mold since we moved in until I discovered the dehumidifier how wonderful it was.
Right now, I am sticky and hot, sitting in the living room. But I refuse to take a shower yet because I know I will only be this way again about 2 hours after I do. My strategy now is that I put the AC on in my bedroom about an hour before I am going to bed at night. I close the door so it gets good and icy. Then I take a shower and practically dive into my bedroom afterwards. It's the only way.
My best friend, the dehumidifier:
Table over the heating space in a tatami room (this is not our house; I found this pic on the web):
And the heaters in the floor under that table:
Shabu Shabu meal (hot pot):
And, some hot and humid boys (who couldn't even wait till they got home to take off all their clothes), in desperate need of a sugary drink:
