Something else to bitch about

OK. I live in Osaka Japan. It's now November, getting a little cold but nothing serious. Temperature outside is quite perfect actually, maybe you need to put a sweater on when you go out, but sometimes you don't need to either.

I get pissed because first of all, most people in this country let the fashion world dictate to them when it's fall, winter, summer completely disregarding the actual temperature. This year, it was hot and humid until the end of October. We even had a few warm days this November which is not unusual for Kansai. yet, I seem to see many boneheads dressed up for the "cold" weather as early as the first or second week of September, which is still swelteringly hot and I'm still wearing shorts and a light T-shirt, still sweating my balls off.

Seeing people wearing winter clothing while it's still hot doesn't bother so much, it just makes me laugh. The thing that REEEALLLY pisses me off is that you can't go into a public place or take public transportation without the heat cranked. Coming home tonight on the subway from Umeda, the temperature was so hot on the train, I had to take off my sweater off and I zipped off the legs of my pants, much to the surprising gawk of onlooking commuters. The expression was total disbelief on a few people's faces.

OK, I think I am safe in saying that we don't really need the heat AT ALL in the winter on public transportation or public places such as coffee shops, retail outlets, malls, whatever because when most people go out into cold weather, they dress for it. Stands to reason that we will be just fine without wasting millions of dollars in heat costs every year. Never heard of anyone in Kansai getting frostbite or dying from being out in the cold. It's fucking ridiculous. Then the government thinks their idea of "warm business" is so genius. Sure, don't turn on the heat where you work all day, but blasting it in public places where people are already dressed warm is OK. Does that make sense? That's a big fat fucking waste of money and resources.

Same thing in the summer. Mind you, it is extremely hot and humid in the summer, and I'll be honest with you, I don't think I could survive without an air conditioner, at least in July and August anyway. But you walk into some shopping centres and it feels like you're walking into a cold storage plant.