Friday, February 11, 2011

Snow in Tokyo

Some have tried to claim that it doesn't snow in Tokyo but it does every year.  Right now there is five centimeters outside on the street.  It snows every year.  I've seen it snow in April twice.

Tokyo.  Uninhabitable 4 months of the year.  6 months are just about bearable.  It is only pleasant for a few short weeks in July and August.

It even snows in Kagoshima, it's like Tokyo above, but the ratios are different, only two months are unfit for human habitation.  The first year I had no idea what to expect: extreme cold in Sydney is 10 degrees celsius, where people die freezing in the street and news broadcasts warn people to stay indoors unless they have run out of food and are in danger of eating each other.  So in Kagoshima with the first snowfall I suffered terribly.  My office told me to turn on the gasoline heater but I only had the vaguest idea of what such a thing might be and no idea how to use it.  When I eventually figured it out I closed all the doors and windows to my bedroom and turned it on full bore.  My goal was survival.  Boy, I had strange dreams that night.  Only months later did I hear that the fumes could cause brain damage.  Funny, I learned a lot of Japanese that winter.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

You are a serious wuss.