The Tropical Girl's Guide for Surviving Winter in Japan Part 2

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Wow... took me a whole year to write the sequel to my winter survival tips article. Last year, I and my colleagues experienced our first-ever winter in Japan and it was a real challenge. When this year's winter rolled around, we were a bit more prepared than before.

Compared to last year's winter, this winter is definitely colder. Last year we had exactly one snow day that lasted about half a day. This year, we had a snow day where the white landscape lasted for a week and a half. After this episode, we had several more snow days and it was really nice but annoying. (Snow looks really nice and all, but I really hate it.)

So as promised I am giving several tips for keeping your room warm in the winter.

Tip #1

Mind the Flooring

Insulating the floor is one of the first steps in keeping your room warm. If you have your space heater on and warming the place everything is moot if the floor is not insulated. So if your room is not lined with tatami, you can consider going to a recycle shop or a second-hand shop to get those hot carpets (ホットカーペット). Or even a simple non-heated carpet will do as long as the heat does not escape as fast.
electric heated carpet
It's really nice and warm to sit on


Tip #2

Get a Bed Heater/Electric Blanket (電気毛布ーでんきもうふ）

Most heaters in Japan have a 3-hour timer that has them auto shutdown. So in the morning, you might find your little tootsies near frozen. One cheap and convenient way to address this is by buying a bed heater or otherwise known as an electric blanket. I got one for about 2000 円from Amazon JP. This can be set to a comfortable medium setting and should keep you toasty till the morning.
beige colored thermal blanket
I have this exact one at home

Tip # 3

Insulate your Windows

If your room loses heat through the floor, it does too with your windows. One way to conserve heat is to insulate your windows with bubble wrap or the window insulating material that you can buy off a 100 yen store. It's temporary, won't damage the window (because that matters especially for your security deposit), and is quite cheap. All you have to do is to spritz the windows generously with water and let the bubble wrap cling on to the wet glass. Voila, this allows the heat from the sun to enter the room but contains the heat a little longer when the sun goes down. 

water in a spray bottle to help the bubble wrap stick to glass
And when you're stress, you can pop the bubbles!


Tip #4

Get Warm Beddings

These usually go on sale in every home improvement store and department stores once autumn comes around. These are the heavier, chunkier, fleecier (is that even a word??) types of blankets that surface when the colder seasons come along. Don't be afraid to layer a blanket upon a blanket.



polar bear design gray winter beddings
The bed beckons...






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