RResidents in Japan

Your favourite thing about winter in Japan

The colder months are rolling in and we could all use a smile in this chill!

So, what’s your favourite thing about winter in Japan? Little everyday things or big things, it doesn’t matter! What do you love about this season?

I’ll go first with two! I live up in rural Hokkaido and my favourite thing about winter here is the mornings when it’s so cold that ice clings to the trees like silver leaves. It hurts to breathe in those temperatures for sure, but my goodness it’s beautiful. My second favourite thing is, hot lemon being sold everywhere. God I love that stuff.

49 comments

  1. Nothing. The wind is friggin crazy in Kyushu, feels like it reaches your bones.

    My house is awfully insulated and I have to run the heater and humidifier at all times just to be able to breathe.

  2. I love going to see the different light-up events! It’s the closest thing to Christmas-time I can get

    I also just really prefer the cold to the heat, so I sometimes take a minute to appreciate that 10 degrees Celcius is forever going to be more manageable than the eventual return to 35+ days of summer

  4. Christmas illuminations in Tokyo are pretty cool. There’s a lot of variety between different districts.

  5. I like the felling of being warm inside while the outside is cold, especially in 露天風呂. I also really appreciate the lack of mosquitoes.

  6. Not much – to be honest…. I am NOT fond of winter – overall, and would rather have ANY season other than winter.

    But I guess the kids do enjoy playing in the snow, which is good, I guess… z.z

    Still doesn’t make snow worth all the god damn effort required to shovel that shit all winter tho..

  7. It Tokyo it only gets to like 0 so I haven’t needed to buy a jacket yet,😂 hoody and heat tech are more than enough 🙆🙆🎉

  8. You can leave things out of the fridge and they don’t spoil. No bugs. Wife makes nabe every Sunday night. No schweddy balls.

  10. Nabe, and maybe a kotatsu but really that is all.

    My daughter actually had to explain to my wife why I always laugh and say the cat has her own catatsu under the sofa where the heat from the underfloor heat makes a little kitty sauna and she retreats there until hunger/thirst drive her from her place of happy warmness.

    On a brighter note my “new” house is air tight enough we have to open the place up in the winter to let out the moisture even with the wall vents in most rooms. Our last house you could feel the breeze when it blew… Thank god for that Aladdin Kerosene Heater…

  11. Astringent persimmon in January plucked of a tree and spread on fresh baked bread. Pure sweet jam that uses only one ingredient, persimmon. The thaw freeze cycle turns the fructose deliciously sweet. The same pulp makes for a delicious bread if you fold it into a loaf before final proofing. The skins are still incredibly bitter however.

  13. Mikan and visiting with relatives. I like the idea of making New Year’s cards, but don’t often get beyond the planning stage. I love seeing other people’s creativity, though.

    Also, ginger chicken nabe when the snow is falling outside my window.

    This fall, I’ve gone for thicc disks of stewed daikon, and I see that trend continuing into the winter for as long as my MIL’s radishes last.

  15. It’s not summer

    Honestly, I’ve never understood the whole cold = sad/depressing thing. Heat is what makes me feel depressed, lethargic, and drained. Cold is great, it wakes me up in the morning, it feels nice, it lets me wear my warm-weather clothes and bundle up with blankets and drink hot drinks and eat hot foods.

    I fucking hate summer, there’s absolutely nothing about it that I enjoy. Spring is more tolerable, but near the end it starts to suck too as it gets closer to summer. Autumn and winter are where it’s at.

  17. The fact it’s no longer 38c. I do like the illuminations around the cities and wearing sweaters.

  18. (Tokyo) Mostly I like being able to wear a lot of clothes with pockets so I don’t have to carry things. I fill up my jacket with things like extra packs of tissues, a shopping bag, a miniature multitool and no longer have to worry about whether I’ve got everything I (might) need.

    I do not miss the far colder and snowier winters from where I grew up.

  20. 1. The snow!!! If I could, I would take 4 months off every year just to live near the slopes and ski/board.
    2. Comfy clothes, blanket burritos, sleep-ins and sleepovers
    3. Hot and soupy food
    4. The fact that it’s so ‘mild’ compared to the miserable wet, windy mess of winter back home
    5. No bugs
    6. Leaving stuff outside as a free fridge
    7. Illuminations

  21. I don’t sweat

    I can wear everything black, my favorite color, and not feel like an idiot

    Wearing lots of layers hides my belly fat

    Coming home and taking a nice hot deep bath after adding some hot spring powder to it

    Eating nabe at home on the weekend with my partner

    Traveling at the end of the year to visit the relatives

  25. My cat is much more cuddly in the colder months. I can finally wear my cooler-weather clothes, which I like better than my warm-weather ones. I am also a fan of the hot lemon / hot yuzu drinks. And ALLLLL the winter citrus. My neighbors have some kind of mikan tree and they give us lots of extras this time of year. Kotatsu and heated blankets. Illuminations and decorations around town. I can do a big cooking project without overheating. etc….

  26. It’s the only time of year when it’s not humid. Also as a guy I can actually wear cool clothes (cool in the fashion sense) in colder months whereas the rest of the time I’m limited to a shirt and jeans/shorts and light footwear.

  27. I don’t sweat everyday anymore🙏 being from a typically cold country I finally feel healthy and in my element. Just wish Tokyo would snow more often. It’s such an ugly place in winter.

    Tochigi, Yamanashi, Gunma, Nagano are so much more beautiful in winter.

    Also Oden!

  30. My boyfriend will say Yakimo vendors [焼きも屋さん]. Especially the ones with speakers! 🍠🍠🍠

  32. In Tokyo I really really liked the temperature. It’s not scorching like summer and it’s comfortable to walk, run and ride a bicycle outside.

    There’s pretty much no precipitation so the sky is clear and blue everyday.

    Now, in Hokkaido, I don’t like anything about winter.

  34. I fucking hate winter, I dont mind 40 degrees in the shadow but i cant stand anything below 15…

  35. Wearing sweaters! Sweaters are so cozy and I like knitting so I have some handmade ones too. Wearing a sweater is way better than wearing just a button up or something.

    Also means I can use my many blankets to basically make a nest for myself at my kotatsu or futon. Very cozy, but very hard to leave.

  39. I’m still going to work in a t-shirt as I watch everyone around me in bubble jackets. I’ll enjoy winter when it actually gets to a level acceptable to me, personally. One thing I enjoy during winter is washing dishes at home with hot water though. That’s a small joy I get, that most people dont share. I’ll gladly wash dishes after eating for that sole reason.

  41. Warm drinks! I like that I can buy warm drinks from vending machines and convenience stores easily

  43. I like it when some of the ladies wear those earmuff things that are larger than their actual heads 🙂

  47. Everything.

    Japanese winter is fantastic. Fresh air, blue high skies, rarely rains.

    Perfect for outdoor activities, onsen and nihonshu.

  49. When I arrived in August, Mt Fuji was wrapped in a shroud of clouds. When winter came, suddenly it came into clear, glorious view that I could see from my apartment window. 🗻❤️

Leave a Reply
— Previous article

Contemporary Art?
Next article —

Dental prices for regular check-up and cleaning

You May Also Like