Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Random Picture #118

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I've been told that setsuden, or energy conservation, has not yet started in Japan and that it won't begin until "summer" starts in July or August because hot and super muggy weather in the mid to high 80's doesn't qualify as warm enough to kick on the air conditioning anyway. Let's say that I'm glad that I'm not spending another summer with air conditioners set at 28 degrees C./82 degrees F. in Tokyo. 

For those who want the illusion of coolness without the actual feeling, Tirol introduced a line of "Big Tirol Crystal" chocolates. The box design is supposed to bring to mind ice cubes and the flavor choices are, well, I think supposed to cool you off. The flavors are soft strawberry, sour lemon, and cool mint. I guess that you'd have to keep these in the freezer since setsuden would likely have them melting in a cabinet and eating cold chocolate would probably help you out as you melt in the boggy summer weather. 
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2 comments:

  1. HirayukiJune 20, 2012 at 8:17 AM

    Setsuden sure seemed to have been in force in Tokyo when I was there a couple weeks back. Lots of signs everywhere telling people to bear with local setsuden efforts--plus a sudden increase in deodorants and deodorant ads acknowledging that, yes, Japanese people do sweat and stink (now that the A/C isn't cranked high enough). I was so happy to head over to Kyoto where they can't send any power to Kanto and happily turn the air way up!

    It's a good time of year to cool down with barley tea and cold noodles, that's for sure. Summer in Japan isn't all bad.

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  2. Orchid64June 20, 2012 at 8:58 AM

    Thanks for commenting, Hirayuki!

    I think it's also not so bad in other areas. Tokyo is such a concrete jungle that, once it gets hot, it stays hot, and only machines will cool it down (just like NYC). In the countryside, it must be better.

    Also, there are loads of festivals in the summer, and free fans. :-)

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Some people have been abusing the privilege of being allowed to post anonymously, so, unfortunately, I've had to disable anonymous commenting capability. My apologies to the well-intentioned who post as anonymous but the bad apples have spoiled it for everyone.