Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinMask
On a side note, can I ask why the Americans make such a huge deal over air-conditioning? Here in the UK our climate/weather is pretty similar in tempreture to Japan (or so I've read). We use central heating in winter, but I've never known a single English person to use air-conditioning, not even in many places of work, and we all survive fine. I find it hard to believe living in Japan is so much more difficult without air-conditioning, or is it simply a matter of beng used to luxuries and then enduring shock when that luxury is taken away from you as you move abroad?
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Nyororin's pretty much cleared this up but I can definitely say that coming from England to Japan there is a huge difference. It's not just the higher heat, that's quite bearable; it's the
humidity. I've been in 50C in the sahara. It was hot and gross, but I still felt like I could get on with things because it was dry. The humidity cranked up to over 90% when I was there and it is absolutely draining. Nothing dries. You sweat buckets the moment you make the slightest effort and at night you stick to your sheets. Outside there's not really any wind like you get in the UK. It's flat, dead air. Stifling. Trust me, Air Con suddenly is your best friend in those conditions. I would have been deeply unhappy without it, especially at night because the temperature doesn't drop off that much after dark. It's still over 20C and, yup, humid. And this goes on for ooo, a couple of months or more?
Now imagine trying to -work- in that kind of atmosphere and you'll get the idea why a lot of people think it's mad that Japanese high schools schools don't have AC.
On the flip-side we Brits aren't that good with temperatures either. We might not use AC at home, but most people have their central heating up too high most of the time.