Cool Biz

I'm back from Fuji! It was so nice there (as far as weather goes); dry heat, and cool as you went up the mountain. I miss the weather there. It's blazing hot here, and humid to boot. Humidity makes me unnnnnhappy.

I was just looking today at the poster they have for the dress code here. So here in Japan, there's this campaign called 'Cool Biz' which basically dictates appropriate dress code in the summer during the hot weather. Instead of wearing the full suit, businessmen and teachers alike are allowed to not wear their jacket and tie, or dress a little more casually in some situations. 'Super cool biz' - they introduced that this year - dictates that shorts and jeans, as well as polo shirts, are okay in the workplace. My schools are only doing cool biz, but a lot of teachers just wear polo shirts anyways.

The reasoning behind this, is so that workplaces can save on power by not having to put the air conditioner so low. When it comes on, it's set at 28 degrees Celcius (that's a warm 28.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Setting it this high means that it's still a little warm inside, so wearing long sleeves or jackets is really really really warm still. Hence the cool biz. Everywhere saves on energy, nobody is completely baking (since after all, it's still cooler and drier than outside the room) and hooray, the power bill is lower too. Basically, it's an alternative - I don't want to say excuse, though sometimes when it's still hot inside it feels that way- to using the air conditioner at a really low temperature. Oh, and before I forget, workplaces (at least, at schools) aren't allowed to actually turn on the air conditioner until it hits 30C or a certain day of the year. Some places are a little more flexible on that last bit, especially where it gets warmer faster. Like at my schools. Takahashi is supposedly one of the hottest places in the whole of Okayama Prefecture (we have the valley to thank for that); it makes going to Niimi exciting because it will be noticably cooler usually.

So that's cool biz. Makes sense, right? Personally, I'm thankful for the relaxed dress code. But, get this. So it's a summer thing, right? This year, the dates for cool biz are from May 9th until October 31st. That's pretty much May to November. NOVEMBER. It's going to be hot until NOVEMBER. Does that mean fall is going to be November only? Another fast fall this year I suppose. But seriously, NOVEMBER. That's like, half the year that we're in cool biz! And then in the winter, we have - you guessed it - warm biz. Sweaters and socks are OKです。This is because there's no central heating in places (very few schools and classrooms have actual heaters like we have in the states, but have instead kerosene heaters).

As if the weather in Japan weren't extreme enough! Even if it isn't, these kind of things compound the sense of 'oh god it's hot' or 'my my it's FREEZING COLD' so that when you compare it to places that are warmer or cooler (and by that I mean hotter or colder) it's sometimes less comfortable since the other places are actually better equipped to deal with such weather.

That's indoors, anyways.

And at least in the summer, there's always shaved ice, or かきごり (kakigori). Love that stuff. It's... kind of healthy. Healthier. Than ice cream anyways. It's just ice and syrup after all... right?

Also, Fuji post to come! It's just kind of long, and I still need to download my pictures :3