Every December in Japan the kanji (Chinese character) of the year is chosen. In past years words like "love", "peace" and "new" have been chosen. A priest ceremoniously painted this year's character on a large sheet of paper in front of a well known temple in Kyoto this past week. The character with the most votes this year was "heat" or "hot".
The main reason this character depicts 2010 in Japan is the record-breaking heat waves over the summer. We had the longest, hottest summer in 100 years. A warm welcome (a little too warm!) for our first dreaded Tokyo summer. (Notice the over 100 F temps in our bedrooms pictured below.) But we survived! And next summer will seem like a cool breeze...at least I hope.
It's hard to think of those melting days of summer now that winter is here. I love the cold nights and sunny, cool days of Tokyo. Even though it doesn't get that cold outside (about 35-60 F) it sure feels cold inside. The houses don't have central heating and aren't made well, so you can feel the cold air right through the walls and windows.
We've been able to stay warm though. Toasty electric blankets keep us comfy in bed at night. I confess I feel like an old grandma carting around my hot water bottle around, but it works. And our main living-dining-kitchen room warm us up with a portable kerosene heater and an electric heating pad under the rug.
