Im in anytime fitness right now sweating my bollocks off. They have the heaters on really hot. They force people to wear a mask. I literally feel intense heat even in a vest and shorts just lifting on a easy session.
Yet i see japanese people with sweaters on etc, some running on treadmills with masks still.
This seems to be a pattern all over the place. Really hot and heated anywhere indoors in winter, even if it isnt that cold outside. It also happens in the rainy season too.
You see people bundling up in hot coats and clothes even when its sunny and 15-20c.
You dont see shorts or t-shirts till its 30+ often, where im comfy in one starting around 18c as long as it isnt windy. I have been stared at for wearing them in march when it was 26c before.
Im not from a particular cold country or anything. In the UK we dont even have aircon much and im used to summer being a bit brutal indoors. Im not fat what so ever.
Is there just some genetic difference? Or is it collective behaviour?
However you see school girls wearing 50 layers on top but in shorts in actual cold weather…
Help me understand lol.
11 comments
Lower body fat = less insulation = want warmer temperatures
Just 15-20 years ago it wasn’t anywhere near this bad, or this one-sided.
Office buildings were air conditioned to 21°C all year ’round, and were not overheated in the winter like they are now. When “Cool Biz” came in in the mid-2000s, and spread from government buildings to the private sector, and then expanded beyond just the hottest month of the year, there was supposed to be a corresponding “Warm Biz” in winter where we only heated rooms to 20°, but this never happened. Instead they went in the other direction and started superheating things to 24-26° in the winter. Not much energy being saved, is there?
My gym is exactly the same. They are blasting the heater and the humidity drops to 20%. How do I know? They display the current humidity level on the wall. I really cannot fathom using the heater in a gym.
Absolute insanity and then staff comes and opens the windows. Like cmon people, just turn off the AC.
>Is there just some genetic difference? Or is it collective behaviour?
Jesus Christ. Why does eveyrone want to explain every phenomenon they encounter in Japan as some sort of genetic or cultural quirk?
It’s hot because whoever sets the thermostat in the building set it at that temperature and likes it or can’t be assed to change it whenever temperature outside changes. You think there’s some peer reviewed scientific study of Japanese people regarding how hot they want the AC?
Here’s an idea: maybe ask the people you see wearing more clothes than you think is normal, or ask the building owners why the temperature is set at what its at? Have you tried direct communication with people you want to know more about?
The heater is on full blast because it’s February. There will be a day soon where, because the calendar has advanced sufficiently, they’ll switch from “heat to 11” to “cool to 11”, absolutely regardless of the actual weather. Welcome to Japan.
As a woman who is mixed Asian and has a similar build to many Japanese women, I actually do the same layering thing. I’m especially cold quickly in regards to my torso. My legs (especially upper legs) are better at withstanding cold, at least if I make sure my feet are warm. Still though, I’m not as tough as the school girls. Anyway, I vice versa don’t understand how so many western men wear a T-shirt when it’s only 18c. I’m from the Netherlands, and it’s kind of a joke in my country that a lot of men already wear a T-shirt on a sunny Spring day, even if the temperature is low. So yeah it definitely is also genetic, and there is something to say for both the people who get cold quickly and the people who get hot quickly.
Do you pop caffeine or something for your pre-workout?
I find caffeine/guarana will significantly warm me up and get the blood pumping even if the aircon is cool.
I think in general Japanese people have a high tolerance to heat and a low tolerance to cold because they got less meat on their bones and also they tend to believe “体を冷やす” is unhealthy like in many Asian cultures. My previous workplace was always warm even during summer, and I would sweat profusely yet many of my female Japanese colleagues had the goddamn cardigans on and drink hot tea because the AC was too much for them. And of course, it was totally overheated during winter. It’s really funny though whenever they visit the US, they almost always complain about how the AC is blasting cold air everywhere and ask me, “why so cold?”
My pet theory is that it’s because of the high percentage of old people. As you might now mitochondrial functionality declines with age so at a cellular level there’s just less energy making going on. So if the average jiji/baba wants the heating at 28℃ then that’s what we all get.
The real answer is laziness : when people open the place (office, gym, restaurant, etc.) in the morning, it’s obviously very cold. So what do they do? They crank the heating up so the place becomes warm fast.
And then they don’t touch the panel anymore because laziness.
People just get colder in Japan.
The winter gets cold, but I rarely wear as much outer wear as a lot of other people. I just have a light jacket. I feel as long as you walk to the train station you are in the clear. The trains are HOT. And once you walk to your destination, the mall, etc. It’s also so damn hot inside.
I do not want to carry heavy winter clothes around all the time.