The first 1,000 people to use this link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/mrseats02221 What high-tech things does YOUR country have??
“Japanese houses are very cold”. As a Canadian (used to central heating) I was really shocked by just how cold my house here got in the winter. But when I decided to stay in Japan for the long term, I made it my goal to build a proper centrally-heated home here. And finally, 10 years later…I’ve done it!! My family now has a fully insulated home that is actually warm in the winter!
@@MrsEats well, it’s our first winter in the new place, and while it is warm, it’s not quite as warm as what I was used to back in Canada. We went with a kind of ‘natural-style’ heating system that uses less energy. (Developed in Japan! Kind of ‘low tech hi tech”. If you’re interested, I can post a link…I video blogged all about it… 😆
I usually think of Japan as being a few decades ahead, while simultaneously a few decades behind. I think it comes down to Japan loving technology, but almost paradoxically hating change.
They are Icarus. Shoot for the sun and no looking back. We all see that as a limited aspect. The Oregon trail for example. But to damper the human spirit. I can't do that.
I do not understand why it's seen as being a waste of money to insulate the house when you end up spending more money on heating or trying to keep warm during winter. And if the house was insulated it also wouldn't get so damn hot in summer too! It's so confusing
Yes Japanese think more insulation just make the house very hot! But many Japanese people like to have good airflow in the house!! Even in winter time we open window to get fresh air sometimes!
I'm legitimately surprised that Japan hasn't invented a method of insulation which is inexpensive and lightweight. That would change up a lot of Japanese cities and villages.
Plenty of northern countries have developed hundreds of cheap material to use for insulation. They don't need to re-invent the wheel here. Just buy those wares, which are cheap, easy to apply and can be put between the folds in walls during construction and hardly add that much cost to the building in comparison to lot of other stuff.
Insulation also traps heat in summer which, she pointed out, is the main point: you can always add heat in the winter but NOT just take it away in the summer. (AC is not magic, as much as people treat it like it is)
Yeah. Some of these things struck me as weird when I was in Japan. There's this idea that because this works, there's no reason to change it. And because our apartment was so cold in the winter when we were shopping around for companies that built homes I insisted on it being properly insulated. Now it's warm in the winter, cool in the summer, the AC is barely needed unless it's really freaking hot like this summer but it doesn't have to work all that hard to get the place comfortable. And solar panels to not only generate electricity but heat the water as well? No issues.
True. It's very common in Germany to hang them outside or in a special room for drying clothes (more common in apartment blocks). Dryers are affordable but they are not very eco-friendly and can damage your clothes.
I was horrified by how cold apartments in Japan are in winter. Going to the bathroom was torture because it was like taking a dump out in the tundra. I don't understand the lack of investment in good insulation, especially since in the long run you'd save so much on your electricity bill. And you don't even need central heating; just build a couple of radiators in the important rooms. It's eco friendly and keeps your place heated very effectively *and* doesn't make the air dry.
If I had to choose between beauty and freezing to death in the middle of winter, then I'd say "Hello Ugly!" and stay warm instead (and stay cool in the middle of summer heat waves conversely).
Honestly a lot of this stuff is just smart. Especially the not using a dryer and instead hanging your clothes to dry. It's just good practice and is good for the environment!
Yeah that one I agree with. Not only is it more eco friendly in terms of saving power and water, you also get a lot more years out of your clothes that way. (assuming you're not redoing your whole wardrobe every time a new trend comes along)
It's only good practice if your city is not polluted. Hanging your sheets & undies in dusty air not great. Plus you have to keep looking at them quite messy and unsightly. When it's raining your clothes just hang there for days. Dryer allows you to use your clothes right away and takes very little space and keeps clothes clean. It's still better in my opinion.
A few weeks ago, here in Kyushu, I complained to my wife that the toilet room is so cold, that needing to use it if you are sick must be miserable. Last week, I developed a (non-COVID) fever, with terrible chills. Even with four blankets, an electric blanket, and the bedroom heater set to 28c, I felt cold. When I eventually had to leave the room and go into the toilet room, it was like a level of Hell.
Yep. Australia is similar to Japan in this regard, and I moved there from Canada. Being sick in Australia is so much worse than being sick in Canada for this very reason! The rooms don't stay warm unless the heater runs constantly, and if you move to another room, you feel freezing cold. Plus, you have to keep the windows open most of the time to prevent mould, so sleeping with cold air coming in while you're sick is tough too. I had to start sleeping with a toque on during winter!
It's strange, that the Japanese still haven't figured out that insulation works both ways. A well insulated house not only stays much warmer in the winter, but it stays much cooler in the summer as well. In fact, a well insulated house can stay cool enough even in hot summer that you don't even need air conditioning, so it even saves you money. Sure, with cheaply built uninsulated housing you might save on construction cost, but you'll more than pay the difference in heating and AC cost later.
It's important to remember that insulation is not perfect and will gradually let summer heat in and then trap it inside. It can be several degrees hotter inside then outside after a while and that's just the British 'summer'. insulation only works for short bursts of heat, after prolonged heating from summer it turns your home into a thermos.
@@DavidCruickshank That's not true. Insulation doesn't just lose effectiveness. Only shoddy insulation "leaks", or people leaving windows/doors open. The key to managing heat in the summer with a well insulated house is basically the same as in the winter: keep everything tightly closed, because you'll only let the hot air in. When the sun is down and the air is cooler outside, that's when you air out the house. Preferably at dawn, when it's the coolest, you open everything for an hour or so, then before the sun really starts to heat up, you close up tight again, shut all the blinds and curtains. The insulation will keep it cool inside for the day, given you don't keep opening doors/windows and letting the hot inside.
@@Playbahnosh Insulation doesn't need to "lose effectiveness" or "leak" to let in heat. No Insulation is perfect and able to keep 100% of the heat out of a building. Do you think that everyone living in hot climates are perpetually stupid and just haven't figured out that insulation will magically solve all their heat issues and they just need to magically vent all the heat out of a building at dawn to keep it out all day. People use AC units for a reason.
@@danieladamczyk4024 nah, that's different. Visiting east Asia that's still like the 90s is great, but visiting Europ that's still like the olden days is just like going back to the medieval times.
Honestly I prefer the old style of learning. Having used paper books and digital books for studying, and observing the younger generation academically, I’ve seen the paper book method edge out the digital method most of the time. However, I am a fan of leaning from videos and taking notes, so I guess it’s kind of a blend of the two.
This digital education thing definitely needs a lot more kinks worked out, but so does education in general. Those of us who got stuck in the transition really did get screwed, though. We got to sit there and watch as the school system struggled with teaching with the use of technology. Who knows if they even got the hang of them smart boards yet. 😂
depends hardly on what you learn. but yeah, you shouldnt replace it entirely. a tables for learning or a notebook is only good for very specific things
I've often asked my wife (who is Japanese) this question: instead of inventing more heating gadgets like coffee tables, toilet seats, rugs, blankets, etc...how about just having a real heat source for your entire home?
It has to do with tax laws and real estate properties. Most people do not want to invest in improving the real estate because of some reason of resale value or tax cost when demolishing the house.
@@Lucy-dk5cz Saving money by not heating entire home is the worst myth which exists about heating, walls are suffering by temperature changes and when you want to heat one room with cold walls, you need more powerfull heat source to heat it in reasonable time, it's very stupid idea heat only one room. We were taught at school that you should set temperature in not used rooms at least to like 15°C which doesn't cost a lot of money (every 1°C up increases price for heating a lot), when you do it like that, you can fastly heat room which you need warm and temperature comfort will be much better, it's not only about air temperature, walls are important too. Also, in some types of buildings, not heating at all could cause freezing of water pipes. But it's very about climate, I am not expert on temperature in Japan, but from what I know, they have real winters and minus temperatures. We have mostly something like -5 to +10°C in winter, but heating systems are calculated for -10°C just for be sure it won't fail you in case of colder winter.
@@Pidalin perhaps but Japanese home construction is very different from most places around the world. Further more things like kotatsu serve other functions. It is common to use the kotatsu to dry clothing during the day time when no one is using it
finally someone addresses this! I always get confused looks when I tell people that Japan is not as advanced as you'd think. I used to have to fax my grades to the school I taught at. People still used flip-phones when I lived there in 2016. Cash was king at the time and at my local supermarket the cashiers would look at you confused if you gave them a credit card. 😅
I remember those experiences in '82 & thinking 'what the hell's going on? I thought Japan was advanced'. The cash thing, the ATM's that aren't open 24/7 (isn't that the whole point of ATM's?) and the faxes. Faxes??? They kind of died a death where I came from to be replaced by emails, etc.
I don't see anything wrong with fax machines when everybody has them, even at home. I'm sure if PCs weren't widespread we might be complaining about how annoying e-mails are too. Nothing inherently wrong with flip phones either -- the flip phones in Japan were way more advanced than anything in the US pre-iPhone.
Here in India, Our Houses are made of bricks and cement so, in summers it's not that hot and in winters, when some states literally freezes, is really pleasing inside. And also, it's common to hand clothes on the roof, as we have flat roofs, so some open area. And with the western type of washrooms, we too have washrooms that makes you sit in a squatting position. It's actually quite common here.
In Japan or in any other country with high tectonic activity and consequently, a lot of earthquakes, brick houses are pretty dangerous and also expensive to rebuild. Wood is, thusly, the favoured material. Wood is light and has a lesser chance to cause fatalities from collapse.
Always found Japan paradoxical in that regard - some of the latest high tech right next to some incredibly ancient stuff. Caught a bullet train to a ryokan that had dial phone and CRT TV in the room.
It's only "paradoxical" when you take an extremely biased and narrow look at a very few things combined with your own limited experience as "the norm". Starting with the idea that because a place has X then Y must also be like it even though they are totally different things. Like, you'd THINK that America should be the ultimate in humanitarian support, welcoming and accepting those in need because our history has the line "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore." engraved in it (and on the Statue of Liberty). Yet the America of today is VERY opposed to the ideals claimed there; just take the idiotic idea and support of "The Wall" as a starting point. (Of course not everyone or everywhere has that perspective, just like not every toilet is a squatter in Japan. Unfortunately it does seem the humanitarian base of America only be getting smaller/worse rather than better, unlike their toilets.)
@@JarieSuicune I suggest you actually do research and stop spouting nonsense. The United States takes in the most immigrants every year. Doesn't have ridiculous rules about parents needing to be from the US for children born here to be a citizen. Lots of countries have laws requiring you to speak their language before becoming a citizen. Stop parroting bullshit you read on Facebook or reddit and think for yourself.
@@hounoi4167 It is biased. Do you not realize that is normal for Japanese people? So ro have this standard of “Well Japan need to be modern in all aspects” is from a perspective of someone whos country does that. If Japanese people really cared about fax machines and hanging clothes outside thered be some change.
Unfortunately it's not a joke. Which is especially surprising when you know that just by walking around your chances to find panties lying around (fell down from the dryer) is not that low. Not common, but not especially surprising.
@@heartlessoni13 Largely mythical, I think. At least, I have never seen one in more than 40 years in major Japanese population centers, though I used to see them advertised in Tokyo Craigslist by overseas gals who had succumbed to the myth, before Craigslist went Pure.
In the uk, we (at least my family) we dry our clothes outside. Plus electric in the uk is crazy expensive 🗿 these things in Japan seem to be similar to the uk where I am!
@@fungo6631 Electricity costs are rising on every country. Here in Spain we are not getting such a big hit because we have really advanced green energy generation and we are close to countries full of gas such as Morocco and Argelia. But on the UK energy generation is very rudimentary.
@rezargamer Then don't live there. Problem (for you) solved and one less whiner for them to deal with. There are plenty of other cultures out there where you can go enjoy worse conditions to complain about.
more importantly, the dryer wears out the fabric quickly! the scents in most products smells awful so I think it's a good thing the dryer tones it down a bit :D
Yeah that confused me too. I live in the UK and even with our notoriously drizzly skies we hang our clothes outside during the warmer months. I'd seen it done in Japanese media so I assumed this was common everywhere; the sun if basically a free heat source! Don't hear much about panty thieves here, thankfully. Creeps.
Here in South Africa whe hang our clothes out side aswell, some people tumble dry then hang outside but for a full dryer thing that's usually the rich.
2:40 Exposure to sunlight (specifically, UV light) does kill many types of germs. Fungus is especially resistant to soap & water only cleaning, but will be sterilized with a bit of sunlight. This is a very important step in doing the laundry in South East Asia, too! In Indonesia we call it "berjumur" which means sunbathing. So, we put our clothes out for sunbathing :-)
@@susannabonke8552 In many places in Indonesia it rains daily throughout the entire the year (though, only for a few hours). We just bring the clothes inside when it rains. Every day has at least a bit of sunlight sufficient for drying clothes. Note that 'Monsoon' refers to season wind shift and not necessarily rain.
@@mattyjmar10 thanks for clarifying. Been to rural southern India, they did the same. Worked well. I love that diversity of sun and rain..people here ( Germany ) are a bit crazy expecting the weather to be fine for them. It would be desert without water.
Yea but do you know anyone who was killed by fungus from a shirt, despite washing it? Not me, but maybe it’s different where you are. My point is that a benefit is only a benefit when evaluating it with the cost of the alternative.
As an American living in Japan, it still surprises me how winters felt more comfortable in the north eastern US than it does in Japan. Even though it gets much colder in the US, the fact that it's just as cold inside (or COLDER) as it is outside makes it much more miserable in Japan, in my opinion. I really hate winter in Japan. :') Also, it's the worst when you're out somewhere hiking and you need to use the bathroom but you just know that all you're gonna find is a squat toilet. Hahahaha. It's also interesting to me that some prefer the squat toilet because they feel it's "cleaner" but many bathrooms (especially ones with squat toilets) tend to have ZERO SOAP present and only cold water to rinse your hands.
One thing not perse high tech, but just the fact that toilets are actually free in Japan is amazing to me, even when I went to a forest while in Japan i would find bathrooms, yes they where the holes in the Floor but still, in my country (the netherlands) its impossable to use a public bathroom when not in the city, and even then you pay between 50 cent up to one euro, and still get fines when your caught when doing it in the “wild”
@@nintenhoe8240 I noticed that when I visited Europe. Italy was particularly terrible - having to pay for a disgusting toilet that often times didn't even have a toilet seat!!! Yuck! lol. But as an American and as someone having lived in Japan for awhile, I was actually very shocked to have to pay for a toilet. lol!
I definitely don't like not having soap. I'd rather have a squat toilet in the cold because then you don't have to sit on the cold seat. I'm also short so I can't sit on some toilets well. Toilets are disgusting; I'd rather have clean squat toilets than American porter potties, but I have a weird feeling that if US had squat toilets they wouldn't be more clean than porter potties. That just means we would have to be closer to the muck. In the US mountains, I keep the A/C temp as low as possible. If I can get away with it being off I will give it a go. That said, I can't imagine that kind of winter without fire; so, I am not sure if I would like Japan's winter or not. I'm not sure how their fire mandates have changed.
@Nintenhoe, that is really interesting. The only times I had to pay for a public toilet was in a fast food joint in LA, California (because of crime) and in a gas station a decade later on the way to LA (also because of crime).
Hanging your clothes to dry is normal outside of Japan, too. Most clothes can’t even be dried in a machine without getting destroyed. Bed sheets, underwear, T-shirts, etc. sure, you can dry them that way, but anything made of wool or other delicate fabrics is a big no-no.
As long as you have bright, warm sunshine, you should take advantage of it and dry your clothes outside. It's natural, free, and the way it should be, no matter how low-tech it is.
People in the cities in Japan like to dry clothes outside because they don’t have the space inside the house for both a washer and dryer. One thing I’ve learned after living in Japan is that the Japanese like to create a LOT of unnecessary, extra work for themselves. It might seem like a good idea to you, but many Japanese wash everything after one use because of the humidity or something... add on the fact that you’d be washing a whole family’s laundry everyday and taking it from the bathroom to the balcony, taking you shoes on and off to go into the balcony, doing this in the winter or not being able to use the shower or have to move the clothes in and out when you need to shower there in the winter...not having enough space to hang everything, waiting for your loads to dry before you can wash and hang the next one... etc etc. Also, most places don’t have great sunshine and in my experience, most things can be dried in the dryer and the things that cannot are the exceptions. Trust me from experience... there are many good things in Japan but not having a dryer is really really terrible. Not to mention, I estimate I’ve wasted about a month of my life hanging and taking down clothes over and over in Japan instead of being productive during that time. One other thing that she forgot to mention is that almost all homes/apartments in the cities don’t have dishwashers. This is bad for all the same reasons and in addition hand washing wastes more water. There is so much good in Japan but one real horrible thing about their culture is that they don’t mind doing mundane, routine tasks all the time. “sunshine makes the clothes nicer”... really? If so, it’s not worth wasting hours and hours and days and months of your precious life on.
I hang dry the majority of my shirts because most of them after enough times, will get too thin and messed up in the dryer. But underwear, jeans and whatnot I do use a dryer for.
I lived in Japan for 3 years, I got really good at layering and basically lived under my kotatsu in the winter but I still came to terms with the fact I probably wouldn't feel my toes for most of the winter after about mid November. Also I love the Japanese flashcard methods it is the best. I cut regular index cards into four now for the same effect they are small and less wasteful and so portable
As a teacher in the USA coming out of 2 years of heavy virtual learning, I will say that the old fashioned way of studying is more successful with my students. They retain it much longer. The digital material often removes physically hand-writing the material (which is another method your brain uses to absorb content) and students are too tempted to rush through it or even cheat by switching windows to look information up instead of committing it to memory. (I actually had a girl copy and paste an opinion-based question in our online textbook's question prompt... All she had to do was write down her thoughts...) And yes, they get VERY distracted on the devices (social media, youtube, games, etc). So it takes them 2-3x longer to get things done. ( Side note for 13:21, That is a cool study tactic! I've never seen that before!)
I have disgraphia which is where my hands literally won't do precisely what I tell them to do. My handwriting is barely legible at the best of times and it takes me 10¢x longer than almost anyone else. But I struggled so hard learning traditional subjects online. Computer classes and English were fine. Math was horrible. History didn't stick. Writing and physically interacting with the material I think is a very important part of understanding and remembering it. And I think the same could be said for interacting with people. If you're struggling it's best to have a teacher and a class to discuss the topic with. All parts of the thinking process.
New research has debunked the handwriting bonus to learning over digital methods btw. Also, it vaguely sounds like learning styles, which has no research support. (Edit to add: distraction definitely is an issue though, and one supported by research)!)
@@ladynoluck Actually the opposite. I just read an article posted in June 2020 to double check, but it said that psychological research shows increasingly that the act of writing helps information stick in your mind. Another article posted in Very Well Mind in July 2021 stated the same thing, that new studies show that writing is the best way to learn new material. The study was posted in Psychological Science. When studying groups learning new material, those who wrote the material learned it faster and retained it longer than those who used other means. In fact, according to the study, Dr. Antonio Cantu (PHD), stated: "Handwriting truly is a more complex cognitive process than keyboarding, by combining neurosensory experiences with fine motor skills, inextricably choreographing both movement and thought." I'm not sure which credible research would have said handwriting does not improve learning. If nothing else, even if they spoke out against it, they certainly don't have enough information to debunk it when other, active research still evidently shows otherwise.
@@iamSketchH The Wiley & Rapp (2021) Psychological Science paper (which I am assuming is the second one you are describing) was specifically about literacy and not all areas of learning and study. Each condition only had 12 participants last the whole study. Importantly, they specifically were looking at the literacy learning of Arabic letters, which are notable for not using the Roman/Latin alphabet, and thus the typing condition was not equivalent to a typical learner's typing situation because they had a custom keyboard with unfamiliar Arabic letters put on top of the keys. As such, it is no surprise that learning the letters of a language with a unique character style with writing them by hand was better than a "typing" condition where you clicked unfamiliar letters on an altered English keyboard (don't get me started on the interference involved in that). But how better? Not too much. The writing and typing conditions didn't even differ in letter recognition. The typing condition was worse in letter naming, but they had accuracy get to 70-80% compared to the writing condition's 70-90% over the same trials. So, popular press summaries don't capture the reality of the peer-reviewed research well, especially because a direct replication and extension in 2019 (Morhead, Dunlosky, & Rawson, 2019) of the original "handwriting is better" study (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014, which that June 2020 article probably describes) FAILED to replicated all the significant effects of the original study. In the end, the benefits of writing are nonsignificant and small, and just studying written or typed notes more decreases modality differences even more. I am a psychology researcher and instructor and also engage in pedagogical research, so I know most of the updated, peer-reviewed research quite well. Unfortunately, the publically available popular press articles and their writers are typically not informed about research updates (like when original studies' findings fail to replicate) and lack research literacy skills to break down what a study does and does not say (and many of these full research articles can be stuck behind paywalls for most people). Dr. Cantu is also not a researcher on any of these studies. He has not produced research loosely related to this topic since the early 2000s, when the current practices of digital note-taking were rare. His last writing on the general topic of teaching history in the "digital classroom" was in 2016, which is after the original study, but before the recent research I described. He has been an administrator and not a teaching nor research position since at least 2019, so he likely has not updated his knowledge on these topics since then or earlier. Please be wary of sources. Not all "expert-looking" people are continuously considered experts. Popular press articles and writers have issues with this, too.
When I was living in Japan, I lived in an apartment building from the 60s, and the walls had no insulation. This means that you need to air out the whole apartment at least 30 minutes every day in the winter, so moisture doesn't build up on the walls and cause black mold to form. The only saving grace I had, was a kotatsu :P
The thing that surprised me most when I lived/worked in Japan was how offices and businesses still use fax machines for everything. I haven't seen a fax machine in the U.S. since the mid 1990s and it feels like they were already on the way out at that time.
I hope in the future we have toilets that have a high seat, but where the footrest rises to put the user into a squatting position. This would be very helpful for elderly people: they can sit down and get up from the toilet, while still maintaining a position that is ideal for bowel movements. Combine that with washing and drying functions, and far fewer elderly people will need help going to the toilet.
@@GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusket I think they said a high seat bc it’s easier to stand up out of for elderly in tandem w those bars for support. The closer yo standing you are, the easier it is to stand.
@@GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusket there are toilets with high seats for people who have mobility issues and regular toilet seats are too short for them. It's definitely a thing and in the U.S. I've only seen them installed for the elderly who have things like hip replacements and such but I'm sure there are many other reasons for higher toilets
I bought a baby step stool from Walmart that I use when I'm doing #2. Gets your knees up and you're in a squat position while sitting on the toilet. VERY EFFECTIVE!
1:40 I promise you, over here in Germany, hanging the clothes to dry is quite common. Even new flats might not have the needed connections to add a dryer unless you wantto invest in a combinated machine.
So interesting! Many of these points brought back so many memories of when I lived in Japan as a teenager. Except for the cold issues. We were living in Okinawa and winter was definitely not an issue there. It was a rarity ,at that time, to find a non-squatting toilet. We hung up our clothes even though the home we lived in had a dryer. I think we only used it a handful of times during the rainy season. I enjoyed living in Okinawa. But I don’t miss the humidity!
Cloth drying is same in europe too. At least in my country Hungary, it works more effective than drying machines. Squatting toilet is not strange too. I think many balkan country use them too. I remember I saw one ~15-17 year ago, in Dubrovnik Croatia. But central heating is one good thing. In fact many of our buildings are the opposite of japanese ones. It has central heating. But it has a Soviet era style too. That means, it's a concrete building, (which would probably kill everyone inside even in a smaller earthquake) so it has central heating, but at the summer it became so hot, you can cook yourself inside. xD (Ofc many buy air conditioners because of this)
Oh wow!! That sound so interesting!! So winter is warm but summer is so hot!! Yes even in Japan summer is very hot too! Even though our house is designed for summer some people still get heat stroke! Old soviets house sound very scary haha!! But I want to see it one day!!
When I first saw a squatting toilet (I never heard of it before) I walked out like “the toilets under construction. It’s just a hole in the ground 🕳 “ 😂
Love the Japanese learning tips at the end! It takes me an extreme amount of discipline to do online school because I just get so distracted by the other things going on in my computer or phone. Thanks for giving me a better way to learn!
In italy we use radiators, filled with hot water and steam heated up by a boiler (electric or gas). Most advanced electric boilers allow you to fill them up with wood and pellets, they're very energy efficient and generate the most heat, the only problem is space. For insulation we generally have very thick walls and external doors so don't ever try to punch them or you'll hurt yourself lol.
Oh that sounds very convenient!! These days we stop using kerosene heater because of the gases!! We use air con to heat the room but our electricity is so expensive now!! Maybe Japan has this kind of hot water heater!
@@MrsEats ok i am not sire if japan has an RV culture (roving homes mobile homes or campers) but some of the winter gear for those is very efficient. for example something the size of 15 cm wide about 20 cm tall can heat up a 6 tatami room room for about 9 to 11 hours using a special fuel pellet without harmful discharge. in US when i was winter camping i used to take one of those it was maybe 1.7 kilo and used that in my tent while temps were about -20 c the temp in tent could be as high as 12 c and was able to get temps in the tent that was 2X2 meter and about 150cm in height depending on pellet and insulation outside. used to take a thin all weather tarp with me for extra insulation if snow was around i would build it around the tent or bury it under leaves
Brick and concrete isn't as efficient for insulation as people think. That's why the government has instituted the incentives for building improvements.
This has been true for decades. Back when I was graduating pagers "beepers" were the rage in Japan, and stayed that for a LONG time after smart phones. Konbini have ridiculously through inventory controls, while the mom-and-pop shop next door might be running an abacus. American branches of Japanese companies are rarely cutting-edge, but they DO use a lot more advanced gear (though computer literacy among overseas staff can be rather low). I think part of it is the limitations of space, but a bigger factor might be that Japan has the opposite of "keeping up with the Jones". Actually Japanese are probably even MORE prone to fads and hot new things than most, BUT no one wants to BE the Jones, they just want to be LIKE them. This keeps change at a rather low simmer most of the time. But once things change, look out.
Well, I found a beeper that my kids used to use 25 years ago or more, and I put it on FB as a relic from a bygone age, and all my Japanese friends recognised it as such.
Living in old army housing in the US I feel your pain about going to the bathroom. The seat is like ice. And the hard wood floor torturous to step on and just sleeping is hard because it's so cold.
Love how funny you are!! I used to love Abroad in Japan but I must admit you make me laugh more and you guys explain things very nice, just wish videos were longer for you are the only Japan youtuber I watch and look forward to at the moment. Thanks and keep it coming!
@@ysnsmth Abroad is getting boring for my taste, don't know why but they all seem the same now. Mrs.Eats has original content from a Japanese point of view and western (since her husband is American) so 2 for one! Plus, I like how she speaks that makes it even funnier!
I live in Europe and a lot of these things relate with our life here, too. So, it's not that old or weird in Japan, at least not for me. I'm used to these things.
It's so refreshing to see you have a critical look at your own country. When I first went to Japan, I was shocked that the heating systems inside houses were what I would only use when camping in a tent! I really enjoy the humorous way you present things and I find it interesting that both you and your husband play along. Thank you for the fun content!
One thing I learned in Japan is that hanging clothes to dry makes the fabric feel newer/softer for longer. Especially sweaters that tend to shrink, stretch, or pill. 5:16 I always have to where house socks and out on a sweater when I got to the restroom at my boyfriend’s house. Thankfully the toilet had a seat warmer haha
-Insert comments about fax machines- I can think of a few reasons why Japan is so behind on sooooo many aspects: - aging population, it's just soooooo difficult to learn something new (a bit of sarcasm) - "disrupting the peace/harmony" (和) which is basically "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" - the culture itself that prevents people from "standing out" and always having to wait for the hierarchy to agree, it's a longass process The country will be forced to change in about 20-30 when the current old people start dying off from old age and the population will be halved or so, until then hooray for fax machines and squat toilets and others
Pretty much. I vaguely remember them mentioning on Trash Taste one incident of corporate inefficiency (I think it was fax machines). They were aware that there was a better way of doing it, but the guy running the show didn't want to change it because he was afraid it would offend/disrespect his senpai/predecessor. If I recall correctly, said senpai/predecessor had retired at some point in the bloody 90s. So a combination of old people, people who are scared of change, and other assorted bullshit. Feels like the only way to fix it is for an Alexander to come in and start cutting all the BS Gordian Knots that seem to be everywhere.
@@thuranz2773 It baffles me that a culture that optimizes so much convenience also can't do the most basic in catching up with tech, more digital and less print would cut down costs in the long term but that's just the tip of the iceberg, another is the overabundance use of plastic... even things like the local "Pringles" has all chips inside an extra plastic bag lol smh
@@n1hondude Have you been to America? Plastic is wasted like that (wasting and polluting) is itself the goal. Digital does not equal "better". It depends how you use it. And to think there is something inherently wrong with how someone else is comfortable doing things a different way... Well, I can't fix outdated personality traits.
@@thuranz2773 Can confirm. I've been here over three decades and worked in several market sectors. Many of the post-bubble companies are smart as whips but the 'don't rock the boat' mentality in older companies is surprisingly common and shockingly counter productive. Whichever elder gods started the organization did it to fill a market niche or get ahead of the competition so surely their successors have an obligation to keep evolving it to keep on top? If that means ditching the fax machine and causing Kimbei-sama to cough his dentures into his miso soup then that's a price that has to be paid.
I was so surprised how "low-tech" Japan was when I lived there for 1.5 years. What they did have was all show and like you said ancient. The Internet speeds were a joke, paying with a credit card everywhere wasnt the norm, and getting information online about companies etc just didnt really exist. However that said: Having a clothes dryer doesnt mean you come from a more advanced country. Heating doesnt either.
Sounds like more than half of America, most likely. If you don't have plenty of money to shell out for "higher living", you definitely don't get even close. And that's if you live in an area where that's an option.
@@JarieSuicune At least in my case with the US you don't need to shell out much money at all to have "higher living" especially if you decide to live in rural areas where you can live on massive amounts of land and pay little to nothing for luxury. You'd have to be incredibly rich in Japan to live a similar lifestyle to most Americans.
I don't know when you were in Japan, but if you were here now you might be shocked. ALL that's changed. There are probably ten ways you can pay your taxi driver now, depending on the company and city.
@@fionncaomanac339 Yup! My mom (Mex immigrant) always says that the poorest people in the US live like royalty compared to even middle class people in other countries (mainly thinking of Mex when she says this). Although the tradeoff is that people in Mexico are generally happier than those in the US. It's a grind here in the US 😩
ohh in germany not many households have dryers either :) theyre still pretty expensive and its way more common to just hang up your clothes. most gardens behind apartment complexes still have wires where everyone can hang up their landry. most people use those to hang blankets and bedsheets because they take up too much drying space inside (i hang up mine over the doors lol) had a friend from the US visit me and they were struggling hanging up the laundry. they didnt know how they had literally never done it which was quite shocking haha
If I travel back in time the first thing I would invent is a clothes dryer. I never got this about Germany. I had a boyfriend who would hang his clothes in the livingroom and they would drip on the carpet and the clothes would be stiff and smell like mildew. Hell naw.
@@EmpressKadesh im sorry to hear that but your bf just sounds bad at laundry :( clothes are not supposed to be dripping wet when they come out of the washing machine. the spin cycle is supposed to get most of the water out. should take clothes like 1 day to dry. a little more when its thicker fabric like jeans. but theyre supposed to just be a little damp. and when you hang them correctly with enough space inbetween for some air circulation they do not smell bad at all lol mostly it just makes the whole room smell nice like fresh laundry
When I moved to my present house in Scotland, it was so badly insulated, I burst into tears trying to cook a meal in the kitchen. It was so very cold. We have since insulated and double glazed throughout the house - to the point we only need one source of heating in the sitting room (multi-fuel stove) to keep the whole house comfortable. It usually isn't uncomfortable in a well-insulated house during a normal Scottish summer. But when temperatures reached 31 degrees Celsius here last year, I would sit with a cold cloth draped over my head or brow, and that was enough to stay perfectly cool.
I was fortunate to visit Japan on business many times working for a Japanese company. I spoke a little Japanese or had enough words to get by. Not shocked by anything I saw or experienced as I was aware of conditions, history and Japanese manners. Food from Kumamoto to Hachi Man Tai was great. BTW I love natto, my nick name was hena gai Jin. I was amazed at the range of toilets from old benjo to modern and heated self washing ones at the time. Initially I stayed in Ikebukaro for Tokyo area business. Then moved to places such as Hamamatsu Kumamoto and so on. One thing I've observed about the Japanese and their culture. They are not afraid of loosing It and adopt other languages into their way of life. My biggest prob was when they used JangLish. However after a while I could decipher it wether it was technical or for wearing jeans. Currently younger Japanese speak very good English with great pronunciation. My first visit to Japan was fantastic. Subsequent ones were the same and I always looked forward to the visit. Arigato Nihon.
I actually enjoyed this video and many things are pretty similar to my life. In Europe most people dry their clothes in the sun on the balcony. The place where I live is an old construction with no insulation so it gets freezing in winter. I can refer to heating up only one room or putting on special winter house clothes. And as a teacher I like to see a combination of all kinds of learning techniques.
Only when you live in a European country with enough sun... Scandinavian here, I only get a few hours of sun (if it isn't cloudy) in winter. Summers come with a lot of random rain showers.
Don't feel bad for having a low tech learning! Also Germany, where I come from, is said to be behind with this "digital learning" and it is a big hype in education at the moment. I work in science education at a university, and there is no obvious benefit for pupils, when it comes to the quality of learning. However, in some regards it sometimes can be a bit more practical or even a bit more motivational. And at the same time, pens and paper are very cheap and we have to ensure everyone get access to education, not only rich people who can afford expensive technology.
It's actually surprising how simular some of these points sound to Germany xD. Like the majority here hangs clothes, most students still study the old fashioned way and some rooms can get really cold in the winter
It goes to show how spoiled we are in the US for the fact that its normal to have certain things that other countries view as extravagant. I personally couldn't imagine not having a dryer. And most homes come with one. Rarely do people take their washer and dryers with them when they move.
@@CM-hk8so I live in the desert where you actually need a dryer. If you hang it on a clothesline you'll have so much dust and dirt on it that you'll have to rewash it.
Well, I remember in 1960, my father buying my mother a washer/drier set for Christmas, when she was expecting perfume or something like that. She went bonkers. But if my father had received a toolbox, he would have been perfectly happy.
1:48 reminds me of something. Power lines. Even in Tokyo, which has most powerlines moved underground in all of Japan, only 7 % of power lines are underground. Here in Germany it is more than 80 %. Concerning for a country which is prone to frequent earthquakes.
I actually like this, having both high tech AND low tech still combined in your everyday life doesn't sound so bad. I live in the mountains of North Carolina, so growing up my grandparents still hung clothes outside on clothes lines and even to this day every once in a while ill still hang my clothes on the shower rod in the bathroom to dry, things like coats and stuff that I dont want to put in the dryer. When I lived in Mannheim Germany, they dont use central heating either, it was very rare to find anyone other then large office buildings to have central heating. We only had one maybe two oil radiators on the wall and that was enough to keep the room very warm, so while it takes some getting use to I actually enjoyed that style of heating. But honestly, ALL of these things about Japan aren't necessarily "bad" things, there just different. Japan is actually the one place I want to go to more then any other, I want to go go so badly that while I was in the Army I tried so hard to get stationed in Japan but unfortunately I never got to go before I got out of the Army.
NC fam! My granny is still hanging clothes out on the line even though she's had a clothes dryer since the 80s. I love going to visit and getting to smell the clothes lmao! Between that and using the wood stove more than the heating system, it's like time travelling back a few decades sometimes. Mountain people just don't change.
@@mialemon6186 Ain't that the truth. I remember growing up in the 80s and 90s going over to my aunts house to her hanging clothes outside on the clothes line, I used to LOVE the smell of the clothes after they had dried out in the sun, theres something different about them being on a line compared to a dryer that no amount of fabric softener and other "smell goods" can match. I mean she still did this all the way up until probably about the early 2000s. She has always been the type who hung clothes on a clothes line, grew her own vegetables and canned her own food. And for the most part your right about mountain people, (except of course for a lot of the current generation who I think are just getting dumber and dumber...lol ) we'll be good no matter what happens. Hell, even if the entire world economy collapsed we probably wouldn't even realize it until months afterwards.....lol. But I didn't realized just how much more I knew until I was in the Army and got to talk with people from places like LA, NY and other places where most people have never left the city. If everything went to shit and I needed to, I could just take off up into the mountains (that I can literally see from my front porch) and between how I was raised, the things I was taught as a kid and my military training I'll be JUST fine and wont no one be able to find me either.
Man I grew up in the country in South Carolina and we used both the dryer and the clothes line. Now that clothes line had been converted into a grape vine but still there.
@@joeclaridy I know EXACTLLY what you mean, my great aunt had a clothes line that she strung up between two trees, it was there for soong that it was later take over my a muscadine grape vine, and was EVEN BETTER then....lol. I'd eat so many of those grapes I'd make myself sick. She also had a honey suckle bush that grew at the edge of the woods, Muscadine grapes right off the vine and honey suckles, NOTHING could be better as a kid. Lol.
I lived in Italy for 31 years and in Finland for 4: I: hang out laundry, very cold houses, you study with physical books (that you have to pay for). F: hang inside the laundry, well heated houses, you study online or you can find all the book you need for free in the library.
I love your presentation. Your comedic timing and jokes are great. I remember learning a lot of these during high school in my Japanese class due to movie and my teacher living there. I unfortunately have not kept my Japanese due to not being around others that speak it, nor did I get to go to Kasai (the sister city of my hometown) during class and get to practice it with other there. I still have decent pronunciation and comprehension, however it is still (i would think) grade school level.
Great! Completely agree. I lived in Japan and was always confused by these things. Make a part 2 which could include: companies still using faxes, tons of paper around the office, no dish washing machine, have to turn off ac when sleeping or no ac in house at all, yuwakasiki - only place for hot water.
@@genevievexx Yup, the temperature in my apartment in Japan dropped down to 6°C about a week or two ago. ^^;; As soon as I turn off my AC heating setting, it gets cold in my apartment as there isn't any insulation in the walls or sealant around the windows and doors (I can feel the wind next to my windows and door and can see the light all around my main door). I've been living here for almost 5 years and everything she said is true. I'm from the countryside in Quebec, and Japan's humidity is ughhh... It makes winters colder and summer hotter! 😩 I usually wear my winter jacket inside when I work at my senior high schools as they're pretty cold in the winter. X3 (They only heat the rooms they're in, so it's almost as cold as it is outside (sometimes more) in thecorridors and bathrooms!)
coming from a country in the arctic circle the heating thing was crazy to hear about, we have insanely good building technology for keeping warmth in the houses here
Look here, look listen. I live in a cold country that can have hot summers. And we insulate well. If you keep everything closed up in summer, it stays cool inside. Insulation works both ways. Plus cheap to keep it warm.
Here in Canada and the US those fuel cans hove long tapering spouts you can use to pour your fuel, instead of using a pump. If you looked hard enough, maybe at an auto shop, am sure you could probably find them.
Here is a trick for keeping your home warm in the winter: tape sheets of saran wrap around the windows in your home, run a hairdryer over them to make a tight seal and then heat your home up to room temperature. This usually allows your home to maintain a good temperature without having to worry about cold air getting in through cracks in window frames.
100% agree! I was freezing in my house in Japan. 7 degree celsius in the morning during winter. no isolation whatsoever. I would come home after work and I didn't undress until I'd turn on the heater and wait for 10-15 minutes.
7 degrees Celsius? I would be in a hospital with pneumonia in a few days if I lived in such a house. Here in Europe standard in house temperature ranges between 20-22 degrees Celsius and night temperature 18-19 degrees. Heating beneath 19 degrees Celsius results in mold growth in our standard brick/concrete houses.
As someone from Spain (specifically from Asturias, a pretty rainy region), I've always seen hanging clothes as the normal thing to do, and watching this video kinda shocked me in that I didn't know it was rare in other parts of the world, like i suppose the U.S.. Here, many buildings (like the one I live in) come with a "patio de luces", which is basically an open space inside the building that helps ventilate it and, often, allows you to hang your clothes there. My home also has a few wires in the bathroom, but no hot air, you just have to wait for it to dry. Many people without access to a good place outside to hang their clothes own a dehumidifier, which significantly speeds up the process (and can be good for old, humid houses here in Asturias). Alao, as for the studying with pencil and paper: I'm pretty sure that will never be obsolete, since it's actually really flexible: it allows you to make diagrams or whatever you need, and to circle important information. Many people I know even turn off their phones completely when they want to focus on studying, and just use the textbook and whatever they have written to their notebooks. I guess Japan and Europe aren't so different after all. This video was very entertaining, thank you for showing us some things that aren't usually mentioned about Japan.
Yeah, its always weird when something you do in your daily life is done completely different in other parts of the world. Canada and the US almost only use dryers for clothes, hanging clothes is very uncommon, it's seen as very old fashioned. I knew many places around the world still dry clothes in the sun, but I had assumed that was only in poor countries. I remember being quite shocked when I found out that even in many developed countries, drying clothes in the sun is the way most people do it.
I stayed in a japanese apartment for a while (essentially a single room with a toilet), In Tokyo. The cold isn't such an issue, I guess because all the flats are next to each other, so everyone warms each other up. Or maybe we all abused our aircon. The main issue was the paperthin walls meant you always had to be aware of not pissing off your neighbours.
I still hang dry my clothes in the summertime. I know this was outlawed a few years back in the next province over but here it's still doable... unfortunatly most people don't do that anymore or apartments or house don't come with a hanging line. I will air-dry in the basement in winter time or use the dryer.
@@MsLilly200 Yeah it was banned not in my area but I got one of my aunt who had to take down her clothing line because the town she lived in banned them. Weird huh?
South African here and I can relate to a lot of these. Still hang stuff out, it’s hot so the clothes dry quite quick. Our houses (mainly older ones) are made with the heat in mind, no central heating, but luckily it rarely gets cold enough to where you would need it. For toilets, many people are still using long drops. It’s like your squat toilets in japan, but simpler. Just a dirt hole in the ground that you take a dump into lol. One of my friends only recently got a proper toilet. Can’t relate to the panty thieves though LOL. People will probably steal everything BUT that here
I think squat toilets, hanging clothes outside etc. are beneficial too. It would be great if you combine the house with both modern and old technologies. Like having both type of toilets in your house.
I’m really sad that squat toilet are getting replaced everywhere. They really are waaaay cleaner and easier (and faster!) to use. I don’t even have to take my jacket off to use a squat toilet. And yes, poop really does come out easier and faster, and you don’t have to touch anything! Also, there are no arguments about putting the toilet seat down, because there aren’t any! 😂😂😂
I lived in Japan from 2013-2016. One of my schools was still using Windows XP. I had to fax any kind of forms I had. Japanese bathrooms in train stations and schools were either freezing cold or boiling hot depending on what season it was. I lived in a 1LDK my first year, and I was stunned by how cold it got. I couldn't use the oil heater because the smell made me sick. It came with a Kotatsu though. I *lived* under that thing. When I had to go to bed at night, I would sleep with three hot water bottles, two pairs of socks, and I would sleep under two sleeping futons as well as my comforter! I'd still wake up cold...lol
Windows XP isn't that old, well it is.. but in 2016 it was still super popular around the world. Mainly because how fast and stable system it was, probably even more stable than Win 11.
@@Candyy248 I suppose so, but I remember the schools I went to having recent models and OS, and I went to a US public school in the boonies! Maybe our schools got lucky lol
@@Aldraz true. I was actually pretty grateful to see the XP OS instead of Windows 8. I knew the system a bit better. It was the first time I'd ever seen a fax machine in my life, though! There were even fax machines in the convenience stores, which came in handy when I needed to fax a forbearance form to stave off my school loans! XD
I lived in Japan as a teenager (over thirty years ago!) and I still remember how cold the bathrooms were! 😅 I’m surprised that kerosene heaters are still being used though. I always hated those things…
I now live in an old house in the southern part of the United States. It gets very hot here and the summers are months longer than winter. So older homes were built to stay cool. Since it's not very cold for any more than 3-4 months of the year, it made perfect sense. This house has almost no insulation but the walls, even interior ones, are solid wood, not sheetrock, though sheetrock has been installed over the wood. It's easily 10-20 degrees F cooler inside both winter and summer. So far as insulation, thats fine for new homes but the ones that already exist cannot be insulated without a huge amount of money and time spent. You'd have to tear out a lot of the building to do it properly. There are ways to insulate walls with less damage but they don't really work that well in the long run. And there are people that still hang their clothes outside to dry here but mostly only in rural areas where many things are a problem to get. Not everyone has internet access for example. I am surprised at how common hanging clothes outside is in Japan but not be most of the rest. Yes, learning the 'old fashioned' way is better than using computerized learning. I know for myself, if I hand write something I'm likely to remember it even if I never look at it again. Very different from typing words on a keyboard.
Something I noticed when I was in Tokyo during winter was that the weather was about the same as Mississippi's, so I suspect that much of Japan's housing is built for similar climates. As for insulation, that's a bit of a trap and I don't just mean the cost and fact that climate control is mandatory for it. It's a trap for moisture and it's never a matter of *if* water will get in, but instead *when*
@@InfernosReaper Well isolated houses will keep you both warm and cold. The issue is that many modern buildings in Japan are constructed to only last a few decades before being torn down and replaced. So the companies won't bother insulating the homes. Even though some of it is pretty simple. Like windows with triple panels. Interestingly, traditional Swedish houses are quite popular and are even imported in a specific location. Hokkaido is also much colder and get more snow, so the houses up north in Japan reflect that.
@@InfernosReaper that is simply not true... unless your home is not properly constructed. if building codes are followed (and enforced) issues like moisture entrapment and water intrusion are mitigated or eliminated. I notice many people in the comments are trying to normalize and rationalize not meeting certain expected living standards enjoyed by most (not all, but most) in the United States. You can hate on the US all you want (if that makes you feel better) but mostly all of the issues you are trying to normalize would not be tolerated in homes built to prevailing codes and standards. Proper insulation and insulating living spaces is not only simple... it is cost effective. you claim that the weather and climate in Japan is similar to Mississippi (it is not btw) but you neglect to take into account that there are other factors, such as humidity that need to be considered in habitable spaces. You are making excuses for living with problems that are easily solved. These inconveniences cost money to mitigate and that is the base issue in places like the far east and even in the EU. You folks who simp for Japan (and similar places) are too much... trying to convince others that inconvenience is actually good.
Apart from the toilet, everything "old school" you mentioned can be found in germany too. I also live in a poorly insulated flat, having to hang clothes on ropes (I don't have a garden or balcony, so I need to do it in a room near a window. But my parents do it in the garden), having one heating radiator per room and needing to air out (Stoßlüften) all the rooms (especially to let out humid and used air)
In Mexico, I moved my bed into living room to save on heating and cooling and it works great! With electric heat, my bill was only $50 last month while my kid in US paid $380 that month for theirs. Also no dryers here; you get used to it, but 1 trip back to US ruined it for me. Have to get used to non-soft, no fabric softener smelling clothes all over again. The sun just sucks that smell right out of the clothes.
I remember spending a couple months in Japan for a foreign exchange program at my college. It was an enlightening experience even with the half decade of language and culture classes I took beforehand in college
My mom and I always hung out the laundry in good weather; I miss the smell and feel of sun/wind dried clothes. It worked so well and was free! Every apartment I've had doesn't allow hanging clothes outside.
