Students told me that the temperature in Kofu had been the highest yesterday in Japan, although it was only some 37 degree.
Today, we felt a bit warmer with 38.1 C. Too bad that we were #2 in Japan; the hottest place was Koshu city, a city by Kofu, with 38.5 degree C. Those records are the records in June, so we probably have to be satisfied.
I was in my office without an air conditioner, calling and mailing to find new participants from schools and companies.
Katya had no classes today and went to the Yatsugatake area with a friend of hers, where the temperature was only 30 C.
She bought me a shirt of Dog Department. It is a good one. I will wear it tomorrow.
In the evening, my mother called me asking how we survived. We will probably go to my parents’ to stay there when the temperature goes up to 45 C.
It is after dinner now. Katya and Maya-san are watching National Geographic with the air conditioner on.
One of the advantages of living in Australia (where 38 degrees is a warm, but not particularly hot day… 44-45 is hot)… we mostly have the advantage of a dry heat. As a result, many people in Adelaide at least use evaporative coolers which work very well… and are very energy efficient. Of course, the downside is that if the humidity rises… then you’ve just got a very expensive fan on your roof.
I wonder if the debate in Japan has matured enough to consider how much of the power is actually coming from home consumers?… in Australia, during the recent drought, there was a huge movement to get households to drastically reduce water consumption, even though metropolitan Adelaide households represented about 5% of the total State water consumption.
It’s difficult to know, as a government, how much pain to inflict on the wider population to ensure that there is “widespread” contribution to water (or energy) conservation. Having said that, I was doing my bit as well (and changed our garden into essentially a very low water usage garden… and hopefully one that is also low maintenance).
It was postulated to be a cool summer this year in Japan. At this moment, it is not true. However, the weather could change.
I am sorry for Katya and Maya-san, and especially for the people suffered from the earthquake.
In Japan, the home consumption of electricity during summer rises up. If people save using the air conditioners, the consumption is calculated to be much reduced, although, the 15% reduction of the electricity is the obligation on the organizations, such as companies, factories, and schools.
Well, even though, I think people will cooperate saving electricity, anyway.