Close the window shutters. Blackout curtains are nice but you want to keep the heat from entering the window to begin with.
Awnings outside also help. You can buy UV cutting sheets to put on the outside of windows too.
Short-term, blocking the sun and enabling air flow should help.
Medium-term, buy a dehumidifier and focus on cooling specific rooms. Turn off large, power-hungry appliances that often add to the warmth
Long-term, join the decrepit remnants of human civilization in eking out a meager existence in the sewers and subway tunnels, scurrying in the dark beneath the sun-baked ruins of mankind’s once-proud cities
Plant a tree or two in your garden. I recommend a fig tree. Grows fast and has huge leaves.
[deleted]
Long term, I have my dehumidifier, and the house is equipped with solar panels and solar storage battery.
Planting trees.
Keeping over half my garden in a wild and disheveled state. More green-space makes for a cooler environment.
I think a good way to prepare for climate change has to be taken first and foremost by the cities and the state. I would like to see laws that replace asphalt roads in residential areas and parking lots with paving stones between which grass and weeds can grow. I would like to see the properties completely covered in concret taxed heavily. All these new closed cubes of houses with their loopholes of windows, that are only fully air-conditioned habitable, and have only gravel or asphalt surfaces all around – exactly these make the residential areas even hotter! It is a vicious cycle! But also the public places urgently need excessive greening! There are already very interesting projects in other countries how large cities can be made more livable and climate change-fitter. I hope Japan will also change a lot in the next few years in this regard!
Well, this may only work those of us that WFH but once an hour or so, I take a 1 or 2 min shower using only cold water. Cold water feels like 20C so it is pretty cold.
Don’t skimp on aircon if you need it is what I would say. Best bet is to move to or build a more energy efficient house (airtightness, insulation, solar etc).
Can you move? I wouldn’t want to be in a big city in 5-10-15 years. First, escape the heat island.
I live in a house with a garden. I’m slowly replacing all the gravel around my house with plants and tree, and wood chip cover. As for the inside temperatures, I keep my curtains closed during the day and open them strategically in the evening to make the most of the cooler evening breeze.
But I think the biggest thing you can do is move someplace cooler and less populated. Northern Japan isn’t so bad, though late July and August is way hotter than it was even just 10 years ago.
My longterm plan was to build as close to a passivhaus as possible somewhere north starting in central Ibaraki or further up.
Money is probably going to mean compromising a lot on the passivhaus thing. I may get something old and basically gut and redo chunks of it at a time to be as close as I can get.
Blackout curtains.
Fans
I’ve been using the dehumidifier bead things.
Using Nitoris cooling tech for bed
Using those cool gels on head and neck
UV-blocking window film and a good AC
So next time you get the chance, vote green.
[deleted]
I caved and got air fryer cause my oven range was out of commission for a month. I still prefer the oven for braising and baking but the air fryer produces significantly less heat. I just cooked my rice on the balcony with the help of an extension cord and realized I can do the same with the air fryer and keep inside from extra heat!
Move to a country with a colder climate.
Talk to your local ward office about subsidies. For example my ward will subsidize your house re-painting if you are using UV reflective paint. They will subsidize the installation of a rain water tank, there is a subsidy for tearing up concrete so long as you replace it with a green space. Prefecture probably has subsidies too, maybe even national government.
If you rent, see the other comments
Cold showers and a dehumidifier
But UV blocking tarps and hang/fasten them outside your oversized windows. Has done wonders for me this week. Apartment hasn’t gotten higher than 24°.
Reduce the humidity of your home by decorating with house plants.
ICE IN UNDERWEAR!!!
works every time…
I keep safe from the heat by sitting in my air conditioned house and I shop at night.
23 comments
Close the window shutters. Blackout curtains are nice but you want to keep the heat from entering the window to begin with.
Awnings outside also help. You can buy UV cutting sheets to put on the outside of windows too.
Short-term, blocking the sun and enabling air flow should help.
Medium-term, buy a dehumidifier and focus on cooling specific rooms. Turn off large, power-hungry appliances that often add to the warmth
Long-term, join the decrepit remnants of human civilization in eking out a meager existence in the sewers and subway tunnels, scurrying in the dark beneath the sun-baked ruins of mankind’s once-proud cities
Plant a tree or two in your garden. I recommend a fig tree. Grows fast and has huge leaves.
[deleted]
Long term, I have my dehumidifier, and the house is equipped with solar panels and solar storage battery.
Planting trees.
Keeping over half my garden in a wild and disheveled state. More green-space makes for a cooler environment.
I think a good way to prepare for climate change has to be taken first and foremost by the cities and the state. I would like to see laws that replace asphalt roads in residential areas and parking lots with paving stones between which grass and weeds can grow. I would like to see the properties completely covered in concret taxed heavily. All these new closed cubes of houses with their loopholes of windows, that are only fully air-conditioned habitable, and have only gravel or asphalt surfaces all around – exactly these make the residential areas even hotter! It is a vicious cycle! But also the public places urgently need excessive greening! There are already very interesting projects in other countries how large cities can be made more livable and climate change-fitter. I hope Japan will also change a lot in the next few years in this regard!
Well, this may only work those of us that WFH but once an hour or so, I take a 1 or 2 min shower using only cold water. Cold water feels like 20C so it is pretty cold.
Don’t skimp on aircon if you need it is what I would say. Best bet is to move to or build a more energy efficient house (airtightness, insulation, solar etc).
Can you move? I wouldn’t want to be in a big city in 5-10-15 years. First, escape the heat island.
I live in a house with a garden. I’m slowly replacing all the gravel around my house with plants and tree, and wood chip cover. As for the inside temperatures, I keep my curtains closed during the day and open them strategically in the evening to make the most of the cooler evening breeze.
But I think the biggest thing you can do is move someplace cooler and less populated. Northern Japan isn’t so bad, though late July and August is way hotter than it was even just 10 years ago.
My longterm plan was to build as close to a passivhaus as possible somewhere north starting in central Ibaraki or further up.
Money is probably going to mean compromising a lot on the passivhaus thing. I may get something old and basically gut and redo chunks of it at a time to be as close as I can get.
Blackout curtains.
Fans
I’ve been using the dehumidifier bead things.
Using Nitoris cooling tech for bed
Using those cool gels on head and neck
UV-blocking window film and a good AC
So next time you get the chance, vote green.
[deleted]
I caved and got air fryer cause my oven range was out of commission for a month. I still prefer the oven for braising and baking but the air fryer produces significantly less heat. I just cooked my rice on the balcony with the help of an extension cord and realized I can do the same with the air fryer and keep inside from extra heat!
Move to a country with a colder climate.
Talk to your local ward office about subsidies.
For example my ward will subsidize your house re-painting if you are using UV reflective paint. They will subsidize the installation of a rain water tank, there is a subsidy for tearing up concrete so long as you replace it with a green space.
Prefecture probably has subsidies too, maybe even national government.
If you rent, see the other comments
Cold showers and a dehumidifier
But UV blocking tarps and hang/fasten them outside your oversized windows. Has done wonders for me this week. Apartment hasn’t gotten higher than 24°.
Reduce the humidity of your home by decorating with house plants.
ICE IN UNDERWEAR!!!
works every time…
I keep safe from the heat by sitting in my air conditioned house and I shop at night.
Don’t be fat.