We've almost made it through our first Tokyo summer without air conditioning at night time. Let me tell you how we've done it!
Firstly, the nights are usually around 28-32 degrees Celcius. After reading in a magazine yesterday that for the best sleep you should aim for 18 degrees, I guess my sleep hasn't been the best for several months now! I'm hanging out for some autumn days and nights, I can tell you.
We've slept with the floor fan on and the windows open. When we used air conditioning, we closed the metal shutters and had a perfectly dark room. But the windows open poses a problem. Because, even with the power saving that Tokyo has undergone in the last few months, it is a remarkably bright night that we experience here. Too bright for me to sleep. Add to that that our neighbour's have a window only a metre or two from ours that seems to be lit for most of the night (no idea why). So, in order to sleep we've resorted to eye masks. I was given this cute one when we were in Australia last year.
The other big thing that helps me go to sleep is an ice pillow, pictured here. We have five of them, three big ones (as big as the laptop I'm typing on) and two little ones. The boys also use them. They are very soothing to lie on in this heat and stay cool most of the night.
This sleeping without air conditioning is a bit controversial within the missionary community. There are those who do and those who don't. We thought we were doing a good thing and voluntarily leaving our bedroom air con off, then later discovered that the ancient machine isn't working properly any more (and having replaced our living room air con, we cannot afford to do the bedroom), so it isn't really a choice we can be proud of. We can be happy that our electricity bill is down this year, though!
Wow! I am impressed by the cooling pillow. Our nighttime temps are slightly higher than yours, but we do use AC. (Turks who have AC units in their living rooms just drag their mattresses to the living room, but we have it in our bedroom.
ReplyDeleteWill have to look into that pillow...our electricity bill is high.
I didn't mention that we have high humidity too (80% and higher, usually). The large ice pack cost around 500 yen (US$5-6) and is kept in the freezer during the day. And is totally reusable. We've had these for six years now. So economical.
ReplyDeleteWell done Wendy. The "ice pillows" look interesting. I think everything around them would get wet though, especially in high humidity, so wondering how that workds. I need my A/C at night. Keeps me sane the next day if I sleep well at night.
ReplyDeleteNo AC. Small fan, shower right before bed. Also wondering as Karen asked if the ice pillows make things wet with high humidity-we generally run 90+ with temps above that in the summer.
ReplyDeleteWe put the ice pillows in pillow cases and they don't really become very damp at all.
ReplyDeleteThe scientist in our house says he thinks it is because the pillow isn't in contact with air, so condensation doesn't form. Apparently air is required for condensation to form! So there you go, your science lesson for the day.