Tales of Chilblains and Long Underwear: The Long Winter in Kyoto

I used to like winter. I love snow, hot chocolate, fires in fireplaces. I especially love to experience four seasons. Fall in Kyoto was amazing because each day the leaves looked slightly different, giving the whole precious season an ephemeral feel. When we arrived November 1, the trees were just starting to consider changing color and by the end of the month, the colors of the maples (the Japanese variety with delicate tiny leaves) were brilliant reds and golds. Then, one by one the leaves fell and the air grew sharper…winter had come.

I realize that I really shouldn’t complain about winter here given how the East coast of the US has been deluged with snow. In Kyoto, we actually haven’t had any snow that has stuck and have only had two or three days of flurries. Many Japanese have told me that over the last 20-30 years, the winters have become much milder in Kyoto. They do not immediately mention climate change as Americans might, but when I probe further, they usually credit it to global warming in a very matter-of-fact way. Though the ability of people to accurately report long term changes in weather is questionable, the winter temperatures in Kyoto hover just around freezing much of the time and therefore snowfall is a very clear and obvious indicator of temperature. I have been told repeatedly that in years past, there was always at least one or two big snowfalls before February but that in recent years this trend has been changing. Indeed, there are many older pictures with depictions of Kyoto temples in the snow, but we have yet to see this scene. The environmental science teacher in me cannot resist the chance to remind everyone that “weather” (such as this year’s abnormally large snowfall in the US) is not the same as “climate”. Climate is much longer term, so we must be careful about making quick assumptions about climate change based on a one or two year occurrence. According to my sources, Kyoto winters have been steadily warmer over the last few decades.

Though it is not terribly cold, I have felt the cold here far more than any place I have ever lived. (Keep in mind I have lived in Boston!) Why does it feel so cold here? I attribute it to no central heat or insulation in homes (also traveling everywhere by bicycle not doubt has a big contribution). I’m not sure if I mentioned this fact in my blog; it is certainly a regular topic of conversation among foreigners here. I can understand no central heat/insulation in places that aren’t very cold (such as the bay area) but Kyoto stays around 40 degrees Fahrenheit all winter and when you add in the considerable moisture in the air, it feels much colder. The moist cold really eats right into your bones…brrrr.

Every home I have visited in Kyoto has the same high wall unit for heating. The unit supposedly has a thermostat, but in actuality the set temperature is never really reached because a lack of insulation means that you are constantly balancing indoor and outdoor temps. Not only is this a terrible waste of energy (hello climate change) it is also terribly expensive. Our electricity is 30 yen per kilowatt hour which is around $0.35 per kilowatt hour. According to the DOE, the average cost of electricity in the US is $0.12 per kilowatt hour. (I know that coal burning states are cheaper averaging around $0.07, while CA and NY top the scales at around $0.13. Hawaii is crazy pricey at $0.22, but the climate is pretty nice…) Given the cost of electricity here, not surprisingly, all of our foreign friends (who have larger apartments than we do) spend over $200/month on electricity in the winter. Shockingly, even with a tiny one room studio and very frugal use of electricity, our bill was over $100 for January. Yikes.

People here are certainly incentivized to be frugal with heating. Then again, all the more reason to use insulation since it’s cheap and really helps with saving energy. I think the US needs to export LEED (for green building standards) to Japan!
(I have tried to ask many Japanese acquaintances about the lack of insulation and I receive mixed reports ranging from utter confusion, to excuses that old buildings do not have it, to mention of how hot it is in the summer. But surely insulation would help with keeping the hot out in the summer, too, right? Anyway, concerning insulation I cannot understand their reasoning…I just met a gaijin from the Czech Republic who has just starting working in an architecture firm and he also cannot understand the lack of insulation. He confirmed that, oddly enough, even new buildings do not have it. Despite this fact, Japanese architects are supposedly world renowned.)

Okay, so now let me reframe how cold it is in our humble abode. We put up with it being quite cold, but our indicator to turn on the heat is when we can see our breath. (Remember, this is inside.) Until then, if I am home during the day, I will turn on a space heater and huddle near it (guess what I am doing currently), wear long underwear, two pairs of socks, slippers, and arm warmers that I can pull over my hands.
[Ah, long underwear…for years my mom used to sing the praises of long underwear to me but somehow I never got into it. Literally. Perhaps it was because all my previous pairs of long underwear were so thick they made my pants uncomfortably tight. Or maybe it was because I didn’t live in a place where it was cold enough either outside (as in California) or inside (as in the super heated indoor conditions of Boston). In any case, I have become unceasingly thankful for my long underwear here. It has become my second skin and sometimes I wonder if I actually do have skin under all those layers. Fortunately, I have also purchased quite a few pairs here that are thin enough to fit under even my form-fitting jeans, and fortunately they are quite inexpensive. Ah, long underwear, domo arigato gozaimasu!]

Last but not least, a description of my Kyoto winter experience would not be complete without mentioning my reoccurring outbreaks of chilblains. Several years ago, after wearing some waterproof shoes, I experienced red, itchy toes. Since they went away after changing footwear, I assumed it was some sort of allergy to the shoes. However, this winter after my toes grew increasingly red, painful and swollen, an internet search finally solved the mystery: I had chilblains. Chilblains are an abnormal response to cold that can occur most commonly in the toes and fingers. Aside from being terribly annoying and surprisingly painful, they are harmless. Many articles report that chilblains occur most frequently in cold, damp conditions and especially in environments where it is cold but not extremely cold. (Apparently when it is extremely cold—think New England or Scandinavia—people dress more protectively.) I nursed my toes through several bouts of swollen discomfort until I figured out that I needed to wear two pairs of socks at all times. Now my toes are better but the chilblains have migrated to the pointer finger on my right hand. Wearing two pairs of socks on your hands proves to be a little less practical…Sigh.

To recount the things I love about winter, this year I have consumed more than my weight in hot chocolate, but fireplaces are nonexistent here and the snow has been disappointingly absent. Thanks to Kyoto, I now associate winter with chilblains, long underwear, expensive heating bills, and cold bike rides. I am so ready for spring!!!