Welcome to 2021 which is still pretty much the same as 2020: With Japan being at the height of the third Covid19-wave, Kyoto and 10 other provinces have entered the second lockdown today. It will be in effect until February 7th, unless things are changing of course. Just like last year in April/May, restaurants, department stores, movie theaters etc. should close earlier, companies are encouraged to allow their workers to work from home, and people are asked to avoid going outside unnecessarily.

At least the last part shouldn’t be too difficult, as it is cold. Really cold. Not that this is unusual for this time of the year, but there is a certain edge to it at the moment. For example, last Friday, when I wanted to open the window in my bedroom, I couldn’t. Here’s why:

Can you see the ice that’s blocking the windows from moving? Whenever it gets cold in Kyoto, my single-glazed windows are fogging up over night, and it takes a while for all the dew to evaporate on the next day. On very cold days, I have had little ice streams flowing down the windows over night. However, this is the first time that a whole ice block has formed and froze my windows shut. It took one hour until I could open them again and remove the ice.

Two things are interesting about this: First, I told a friend of mine about this and she didn’t even bat an eye. So… is this normal around here? Or maybe she wasn’t impressed because the freezing cold had burst one of her water pipes that very same night and it took her several hours to get it fixed. Obviously, she had bigger fish to fry that day.

And second: even though it was so cold in the room that so large an amount of ice could form on my window, I slept like a baby and never woke up for a single minute. I am usually very sensitive to cold but I felt nothing that night. It seems that the heavy duvet filled with sheep’s wool I bought last autumn was an excellent investment!

Happy New Year again! I hope you had some nice holidays and some quiet time for yourself. I did, and it was wonderful! The construction, or rather: de-construction next door had their last day on December 30, as did the garbage facility, so I had 4 days of really quiet time. It seemed almost as if all of Kyoto had shut down, the mornings were so quiet and nothing stirred at all.

I didn’t dare going out at all though. The bell-ringing on New Year’s Eve was largely cancelled, but I could hear them clearly for an hour or so around midnight. Hatsumode also I postponed, just to be safe. It’s the year of the ox, so I would have to go to Kitano Tenmangu shrine, but this shrine is super busy to begin with, so I didn’t want to add to the crowds (which we are still supposed to avoid because Corona isn’t over).

Instead, I did a lot of reading over New Year’s. A friend of mine sent me a book with stories by Viennese authors as a Christmas gift, but I decided to read this one in style – and in a cafe and not at home (if you know Viennese “Kaffeehaeuser”, you’ll understand.) I borrowed books from the library, but the one I wanted, they had to get through inter-library loan from Kyushu, and I haven’t heard back from them yet.

So yes, I’m gearing back up again since Monday. I have a new client and work will start soon, possibly this week, and some of my previous work will continue on Friday, if everything turns out alright. After the garbage fire of 2020, I can only hope that this year will get much, much better. I do need it – but then again, I guess we all do.

Sorry for not writing last night, I was out all day in the cold and felt a bit sick, so I turned in very early…

So, yes, it got really cold the last few days. Even though a temperature drop after the momiji is normal, I don’t recall it ever getting that cold that quickly. At the moment, the temperatures are like in February and we even had some snow this morning, a December first as long as I’ve been living here. I have been worried about an early winter, and it’s not looking good at all. 

The construction workers next door seem unfazed by the cold though. For a month now, it has been very noisy during the day because they are tearing down the buildings. As you can see, there are six buildings in total: one family home, one apartment building (which was renovated only in 2015) and four houses for the dairy company that was there.

By now, the two closest to the entrance at the left are gone, and the workers are still busy cleaning out the apartments – see the trash at the top left window? I notice that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of separation for recycling going on. At least the smaller buildings were demolished, windows, roofs and all. Then again, these are wooden structures, so maybe it’s easier sorting through the debris in the end?

In any case, according to the plan they sent out to the neighborhood, they should be done with the demolition this month. And the new building or buildings should stand some time in April and May. I’m curious what it’s going to be…

We are having typical December weather in Kyoto. Mornings and nights are pretty cold, but when the sun is out during the day it’s actually nice and pleasant. I could even dry my clothes within just a few hours on my balcony today!

The momiji season is all but over by now. Last Friday, I went to Eikando with a friend of mine and it was just a bit too late for the autumn colors. The temple was packed with people despite everything but it was not unbearably full. Afterwards, we went to the Lake Biwa Canal Museum where I could find out more details about the boating trip I took beginning of October. Even my friend was pleased with the museum, she’s a nerd at heart too.

Now that autumn is more or less over, I have packed all my things and moved them to my living room for the winter. I usually do this just after Christmas, but I’m not expecting any guests to stay with me this year, so I did it today. As I said, the evenings are cool enough to need heating, and I think it’s a waste to heat up one room and go to bed in another freezing one. I don’t need heating during the day yet, especially when it’s sunny, so I’ll keep using my office as long as possible.

Business as usual, so to speak. At least one thing that didn’t break down completely this year.