Why is it acceptable to be hot here but absolutely not cold?

It seems energy saving only matters when it’s about skimping on cool A/C but the second autumn hits they go nuts with the heat. Just curious.

6 comments
  1. One of the only good things about Covid was that the train windows were left open in the winter. For the first time in my many years in Japan, the train wasn’t a sauna that required me to get half naked before entering. Seems like this year they’re barely cracked.

    As to why? Old people is my theory. They feel cold easily, but are almost never too hot, and Japan is largely run by, and caters to, the over 60 crowd.

  2. In the edo era, it was seen as the ultimate shame to have guests but still require some sort of overcoat to be comfortably warm, at least in a respectable samurai household. As the samurai age ended and the former samurai became heads of companies and department stores they still retained this notion of temperature politeness and company policy followed. In the 1920’s there was even a scandal where a department store heaters were broken, and the company president had to commit sudoku.

  3. If you’re my MiL, cold water. She’s always on me about not drinking cold water, that I should be drinking it hot. I have no clue, the excuse she’s falling back on now is that cold water is bad for the baby (I’m pregnant).

    I ignored her all summer, but hell if my tea collection isn’t amazing because she kept finding random samples and tea bags to give to me in an attempt to make me drink hot tea. This is all in my home, not hers, mind you. In her house I just shrug and drink hot tea.

  4. Indeed. The weather got slightly cooler but still 25c a couple of weeks ago and my local pool decided full blast heaters were required. It was crazy hot. Someone must have complained as they also had the summer fans on too. Totally ridiculous.

  5. What? You’re talking about a country that uses heated tables to avoid having to insulate and heat their homes properly.

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