Staying Warm

**CDNSushi** · 3rd February 09, 05:23 PM

Central heating, huh? HA! Freakin' luxury! That space heater (and about 4 of its cousins) are what keep my house above the freezing mark... That is common here in Japan.

In fact, we used to have a friend who'd keep her contact lenses in the fridge during the winter because if she left them out in her apartment they'd be frozen by morning. At least in the fridge they stay at a constant 3-degrees C or so.

Actually, electric heaters are a bit of a luxury too. They are really expensive to run. Most folks (me included) heat with kerosene. Which means, every few days I have to load 2 or 3 20L red gas cans in the van, drive down to the gas station and fill em up... Almost daily then you have to pump the kerosene into the heater tanks. It's a pain in the a$$! Friggin' dirty heaters too. They make an awful stink when you turn them on or off, and you're supposed to air out your rooms (i.e. open all the windows) every few hours so you don't poison yourself with CO gas. That's what you get for burning fossil fuels indoors.

Some of our richer, more sophisticated neighbours have a large, outdoor tank that gets filled up as-needed by the local kerosene man who comes by in his truck. Those people usually also have the closest thing to central heating as you can get around here -- except it's still dirty and it still produces carbon monoxide.

**Southern Breeze** · 3rd February 09, 05:34 PM

CDN Sushi - Is the lack of central heat a local thing or nationwide? Just curious.

**CDNSushi** · 3rd February 09, 05:44 PM

Nationwide, with the exception of Hokkaido (never been there but that's what I'm told).

To boot, the houses/apartments here are: NON-insulated (no, seriously -- my outside house walls are 1/2 a foot thick), use single-pane, thin glass for windows and doors, and are ridiculous to keep warm in winter or cool in summer. Within 15-20 minutes, the room is the same temp. as the outside air.

IMO, completely ridiculous considering Japan is supposed to be an industrialized, first-world country. I'm freezing my goolies off in my neanderthal shack, yet surfing the web on my 100MBps fiber optic broadband line... Go figure!

**Southern Breeze** · 3rd February 09, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by CDNSushi

Nationwide, with the exception of Hokkaido (never been there but that's what I'm told).

To boot, the houses/apartments here are: NON-insulated (no, seriously -- my outside house walls are 1/2 a foot thick), use single-pane, thin glass for windows and doors, and are ridiculous to keep warm in winter or cool in summer. Within 15-20 minutes, the room is the same temp. as the outside air.

IMO, completely ridiculous considering Japan is supposed to be an industrialized, first-world country. I'm freezing my goolies off in my neanderthal shack, yet surfing the web on my 100MBps fiber optic broadband line... Go figure!

Thanks for the reply. The fact that Japan is a industrialized country is why I asked.
Makes you wonder if the guys who make Sake have a hidden agenda.

**CDNSushi** · 3rd February 09, 06:01 PM

Lol! Indeed. Well, in the past 20 years or so, Western-style homebuilders have taken off like a rocket. "Canadian Homes" and "Swedish Homes" are among the most popular. I guess those are well made... I was talking to a Swedish-style home builder at the local pub the other night and they do indeed use triple-pane inert-gas fancy-shmancy windows, decent insulation, etc. However, I don't know if they are centrally-heated. Something tells me: no, but I'd have to check.

**starbkjrus** · 3rd February 09, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by CDNSushi

Central heating, huh? HA! Freakin' luxury! That space heater (and about 4 of its cousins) are what keep my house above the freezing mark... That is common here in Japan.

In fact, we used to have a friend who'd keep her contact lenses in the fridge during the winter because if she left them out in her apartment they'd be frozen by morning. At least in the fridge they stay at a constant 3-degrees C or so.

Actually, electric heaters are a bit of a luxury too. They are really expensive to run. Most folks (me included) heat with kerosene. Which means, every few days I have to load 2 or 3 20L red gas cans in the van, drive down to the gas station and fill em up... Almost daily then you have to pump the kerosene into the heater tanks. It's a pain in the a$$! Friggin' dirty heaters too. They make an awful stink when you turn them on or off, and you're supposed to air out your rooms (i.e. open all the windows) every few hours so you don't poison yourself with CO gas. That's what you get for burning fossil fuels indoors.

Some of our richer, more sophisticated neighbours have a large, outdoor tank that gets filled up as-needed by the local kerosene man who comes by in his truck. Those people usually also have the closest thing to central heating as you can get around here -- except it's still dirty and it still produces carbon monoxide.

I don't mean to be rude but....just why in the H#$% are you there? I thought "central heating" in the UK was odd but what you are dealing with...? Not for this one...

**CDNSushi** · 3rd February 09, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by starbkjrus

I don't mean to be rude but....just why in the H#$% are you there? I thought "central heating" in the UK was odd but what you are dealing with...? Not for this one...

No, yer not rude... We stay cause I get one dope paycheque every month. My salary is very fair for what I do here and between my wife and I, we're able to save a decent amount of money.

Plus, there's lotsa cool stuff here to see & do (cold aside).

Ironic: I couldn't get a government job back home in Canada, so here I am, a Canadian civil servant working for the government in Japan. hehehehe