Setsuden: Saving Electricity Until it Kills You

NHK reports that over 516 people across Japan were sent to the hospital yesterday with heat stoke related ailments. (Sorry, article in Japanese only).


The story related about nine junior high school students suffering from heat stroke after a tennis tournament inside of a blistering hot school gymnasium... Heat stroke inside a building that has little ventilation and is probably 35 degrees Celsius during a tennis tournament? Nah! Can't be. Who'd a thunk it?


Also, coincidentally, three other female junior high school students in Gunma prefecture were sent to the hospital with heat stroke at a tennis tournament there too.


What can once deduce from these two anecdotal stories? Either female junior high school kids make great news stories or playing tennis in the blistering heat isn't a good idea. It's a close call, but , for my own well-being (and because I'm so lazy) I'll go with the later.


All levity aside, the nightly news was talking about so many older folks suffering with the high heat and contributing to the effort to save electricity by not turning on their home air conditioners. 

How we keep cool at my back patio

That's the point of this article; the Japanese group think and the group "guilt complex." The Japanese people have a definite "family" feeling for other Japanese people that's seems different than most other countries' people do. It's a "pride" (for lack of a better word) that "we Japanese are different" and it goes a long way back in a country that is as old as Japan. (I've met Dutch people who seemed to feel just about the same way about their countrymen.)


Yesterday I was talking with some Japanese folks who were discussing Setsuden (power saving) and the Japanese psyche. These folks were in their late 30s to mid-40s and were finding the actions of their countrymen to be quite curious. I found what they said to be curious too!


One lady told me,


"The Japanese have such a group culture mentality that when something bad happens to Japanese people far away, the older folks feel like they have to do their part, pitch in, and suffer too. It's strange in a way. My parents have refused to turn on the cooler and grandmother doesn't complain (she's 88!)"


I asked her why grandmother doesn't complain and she replied, 


"She's from the generation that was brought up in the war. Everyone at that time believed that 'we are all in this together' so they felt that group suffering was normal. Nowadays, even though it's not as strong, my parents think the same way... Things are slowly changing but when they see things like the tsunami disaster, they feel it is their duty to suffer alongside their fellow countrymen."


I asked her if she was running her airconditioner at home and she told me that she was doing so only at night and at the minimum setting. When I asked her why she didn't turn the cooler up higher she replied,


"Because if I did, then I'd feel guilty."


Indeed.

2011: The Year of Power Saving in Japan. Time Lapse Video of Tokyo After March 11 Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster

The March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster at Fukushima had a profound effect on, not just Japan, but also the world.

Locally, it caused the government and people of Japan to reassess Japan's dependence upon nuclear power.

After the nuclear disaster forced the reassessment and closure of 1/2 of Japan nuclear power plants, the entire nation has spent the rest of 2011 in what has been called, 節電 (setsuden) or "power saving." No matter where you go in Tokyo, you will see signs that say, "Setsuden chu" (currently saving power).

After this "Setsuden chu" campaign started up, all over Tokyo, you could see signs of companies and stores saving power. At some of the subways stations, 1/2 of the escalators were shut off; at department stores, many of the brightly colored and lit displays were turned off... The worst part of it all, and what everyone feared the most, was the hot and humid Japanese summer. Luckily for us, this year's summer was quite unseasonably cool (Man Made Global Warming, don't you know?) and even thought the air-conditioning was off or very low at most places, it was bearable.

I stumbled upon this very cool and interesting video of time lapse photography showing places around Tokyo before and after Setsuden. I thought it was beautiful and wanted to share it with you. Enjoy!

DOUBLE CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL SCREEN