Summer in Japan + more medical adventures.
Hello again from Japan! We are now in August, which means it's the peak of summer here, and 30 degrees plus every day. Very jealous of all my friends and family back in NZ experiencing more comfortable temperatures, even though it's on the cold side. I've made it through the first month, so hopefully only one more month to go before it cools down, right? A girl can dream... I never thought I'd find myself longing for winter, but here I am. I've never lived in a place that gets so hot every single day, and even doing day to day chores and activities is exhausting and draining. You can't stay outside for longer than about five minutes, and doing any kind of physical exercise outside is out of the question. I was going running in the mornings about 3 times a week, but I've had to give that up as it's just too hot. When you're out and about, you kind of just end up hopping from one air conditioned building to another, and you end up looking around a lot of shopping malls and arcades! You can't really do a whole lot else in the heat, which is kind of frustrating. On the plus side, this means that I've gotten back into yoga again, as it's something I can do in the comfort of my air conditioned apartment. There are a few other tips and tricks I've learned to survive summer here, so I thought I'd share a few, you know, in case you end up in Japan during summer one day.
1) Buy body wipes!! All the pharmacies and convenience stores here sell body wipes, and they are amazing! For me, I carry them in my bag and wipe myself down when I get to work. It just helps you to freshen up a bit, and not feel sticky for the rest of the day. There are many different brands, so you can try a few and find ones you like.
2) Carry a sweat towel. Everyone here has sweat towels. You can buy small ones that you can keep in your bag, or bigger ones that you can drape around your neck. These are obviously good for patting off the sweat as you go.
3) Buy airism tops. A shop called Uniqlo here sells a type of undershirt called airism, and they're really good at stopping you from sweating through your clothes. They're supposed to keep you cool, but I just think they're good at protecting you from sweating through your clothes. Definitely good to be able to arrive at work without sweating through my shirts!
4) Buy a fan. This one I haven't actually done, but everyone here carries around fans! It's a great idea to keep the air around you moving and cool you down a bit. Only downside is they're a pain to carry around, which is mainly what's stopped me from buying one. I will get one eventually though!
5) Try Coolish! This is soft serve ice cream in a pouch, and it's actually surprisingly good. You can buy many different flavours, but I like the vanilla one. It's easy to eat and will help keep you cool. Upside of summer- it's an excuse to eat all the ice cream your heart desires! Kakigori, or flavoured shaved ice, is also super popular here in summer-delicious.
One good thing about summer here is that there are so many amazing fireworks displays, or Hanabi, happening around the city every weekend! I went to one last night near my place and it was honestly incredible. In New Zealand, fireworks displays last maybe 15 or 20 minutes. Here, they go on for over an hour! It's insane. They do it really well. So nice to sit by the river bank on a summer's evening and enjoy watching some fireworks. We could actually see two fireworks displays from where we were sitting, the one right in front of us, and one happening further down the river somewhere else. Two for one, and they're all free to attend. The crowds of people were crazy though, I've never seen my station so packed before. If you're in Japan during August, definitely check out a fireworks display if you can! Well worth it.
Something else that happened this week was getting an annual health check. In Japan, most companies will pay for you to get a health check every year. This involves having your height and weight measured, a chest/back xray, an eyesight test, an ecg and a couple of other tests. Luckily I had a Japanese colleague book my health check for me at a hospital near one of the schools I work at. However, I had never been to this hospital before, so the initial sign up involved many questions about my medical history. Thank goodness for Google translate. The lady basically commandeered my phone and translated all the questions I needed to answer, but this stage still took almost half an hour, and some people in the reception area were giving me funny looks, and probably thinking "What is this gaijin (foreigner) doing in this hospital?". The whole thing took about an hour and a half, so it was a time consuming, but hopefully worthwhile thing to have done. I'm still too scared to go to a dentist or hairdresser yet, but I will have to eventually. 7 months without a haircut! :/ Should probably book one soon...
Lately I've also been trying out some new cafes/restaurants, including a Thai restaurant, a cheap sushi place, and I finally found a good brunch spot! Finding a decent Western style breakfast can be really tough here, so I'm glad to have found one, as I am a big fan of brunch. It's always good to try and find new places to go in Tokyo when you don't really feel like travelling too far in the heat.
Next week is Obon, and I'm so looking forward to a break and to doing some travelling. I will have the 11th-16th of August off work, so I'm heading to Kanazawa with two of my friends, so stay tuned for a Kanazawa update!
Hopefully this post has given you an insight into summer in Japan, and some of the ways I'm coping with the heat. I would definitely take a NZ winter over a Japan summer any day! One more month to go, right? A slightly boring wee update, but the next one will be more interesting/exciting, I promise!
From Japan, with love,
Hannah.x
1) Buy body wipes!! All the pharmacies and convenience stores here sell body wipes, and they are amazing! For me, I carry them in my bag and wipe myself down when I get to work. It just helps you to freshen up a bit, and not feel sticky for the rest of the day. There are many different brands, so you can try a few and find ones you like.
2) Carry a sweat towel. Everyone here has sweat towels. You can buy small ones that you can keep in your bag, or bigger ones that you can drape around your neck. These are obviously good for patting off the sweat as you go.
3) Buy airism tops. A shop called Uniqlo here sells a type of undershirt called airism, and they're really good at stopping you from sweating through your clothes. They're supposed to keep you cool, but I just think they're good at protecting you from sweating through your clothes. Definitely good to be able to arrive at work without sweating through my shirts!
4) Buy a fan. This one I haven't actually done, but everyone here carries around fans! It's a great idea to keep the air around you moving and cool you down a bit. Only downside is they're a pain to carry around, which is mainly what's stopped me from buying one. I will get one eventually though!
5) Try Coolish! This is soft serve ice cream in a pouch, and it's actually surprisingly good. You can buy many different flavours, but I like the vanilla one. It's easy to eat and will help keep you cool. Upside of summer- it's an excuse to eat all the ice cream your heart desires! Kakigori, or flavoured shaved ice, is also super popular here in summer-delicious.
One good thing about summer here is that there are so many amazing fireworks displays, or Hanabi, happening around the city every weekend! I went to one last night near my place and it was honestly incredible. In New Zealand, fireworks displays last maybe 15 or 20 minutes. Here, they go on for over an hour! It's insane. They do it really well. So nice to sit by the river bank on a summer's evening and enjoy watching some fireworks. We could actually see two fireworks displays from where we were sitting, the one right in front of us, and one happening further down the river somewhere else. Two for one, and they're all free to attend. The crowds of people were crazy though, I've never seen my station so packed before. If you're in Japan during August, definitely check out a fireworks display if you can! Well worth it.
Something else that happened this week was getting an annual health check. In Japan, most companies will pay for you to get a health check every year. This involves having your height and weight measured, a chest/back xray, an eyesight test, an ecg and a couple of other tests. Luckily I had a Japanese colleague book my health check for me at a hospital near one of the schools I work at. However, I had never been to this hospital before, so the initial sign up involved many questions about my medical history. Thank goodness for Google translate. The lady basically commandeered my phone and translated all the questions I needed to answer, but this stage still took almost half an hour, and some people in the reception area were giving me funny looks, and probably thinking "What is this gaijin (foreigner) doing in this hospital?". The whole thing took about an hour and a half, so it was a time consuming, but hopefully worthwhile thing to have done. I'm still too scared to go to a dentist or hairdresser yet, but I will have to eventually. 7 months without a haircut! :/ Should probably book one soon...
Lately I've also been trying out some new cafes/restaurants, including a Thai restaurant, a cheap sushi place, and I finally found a good brunch spot! Finding a decent Western style breakfast can be really tough here, so I'm glad to have found one, as I am a big fan of brunch. It's always good to try and find new places to go in Tokyo when you don't really feel like travelling too far in the heat.
Next week is Obon, and I'm so looking forward to a break and to doing some travelling. I will have the 11th-16th of August off work, so I'm heading to Kanazawa with two of my friends, so stay tuned for a Kanazawa update!
Hopefully this post has given you an insight into summer in Japan, and some of the ways I'm coping with the heat. I would definitely take a NZ winter over a Japan summer any day! One more month to go, right? A slightly boring wee update, but the next one will be more interesting/exciting, I promise!
From Japan, with love,
Hannah.x
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