Winter in Japan just plain sucks. Today I got no less than 6 emails, in the morning, on my keitai commenting on how terribly cold it was. Indeed, I think winter has definitely arrived in Fukuoka.
Some of you probably can't understand how me, being Canadian and all, can't tolerate the cold. Well, I can actually; I do it pretty well I think. Being cold doesn't really bother me but it's the constancy of it in Japan that does. Meaning, one is -always- cold. At school, or in the office and, perhaps the least pleasant, at home. Our apartments were simply not made for spoiled North Americans. Central-heating doesn't really exist in Japan and insulation is only a luxury available to those in Hokkaido and Tohoku. What that essentially boils down to is this: The only thing separating me and Jack Frost is a rather thin veil of cement (see above).
In ancient Persia, a type of structure known as a
yakhchal was used for storing snow and ice during the summer months -- an early form of refrigeration, if you will. In Japan, similar structures also existed (copied from ancient China of course) and have survived in what is more commonly known as a
Fukuoka JET jutaku.
Recently, a friend asked me if I could take some pictures of Japan. I thought to myself, "What the heck have I've been posting on my blog?!" After some probing, he meant just regular photos of Japan -- nothing fancy, or special or "artsy". Just, you know, Japan. Point well-taken, here you go.
The above picture is from my keitai-camera. I would like to try mobile blogging but as of this post, Blogger doesn't support mobile blogging outside of the US. I guess I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way for now.
9 days to go~
