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Housing Insulation in Japan

high gas prices

It’s starting to get pretty cold in Japan, and ever-rising oil prices are going to make this winter more expensive than ever for many households. Some Japanese reporters have spent their time on air whining and showing off cellphone camera pictures they took of the latest gas station prices, while others are actually giving viewers some tips on how to stay warm without burning too much fuel.

Here’s one such report in which we are shown a Hokkaido woman who has taken various measures to make her house warmer:

Her main method seems to be wrapping the inside of her house with blankets.
So there you have it, folks: If you live in a poorly-insulated Japanese house, just wrap your walls with blankets!

[Since we're on the topic of rising oil prices, why not check out this map of the world in which countries' sizes reflect their oil reserves. You'll need a microscope to spot Japan.]

18 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - December 16, 2007 at 2:00 pm

Categories: Japanese TV, Technology Tags: energy, enivornment, fuel, gas, gas prices, heating, insulation, japan, tech, Technology, winter

The Overthinker

I have long thought it says something fundamental about this country that Japan has the world’s most high-tech kerosene heaters. However a kotatsu doesn’t use much electricity (a few yen an hour) and a thick coat (like a hanten) will take care of the rest.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

I’d be all for creating a chair-height kotatsu computer desk.

The Overthinker

Similar things already exist: you can buy kotatsu dining tables (ie full-height dining tables). Some friends of mine in the Tohoku have one, and it’s very nice in winter. And it would be easy to use one as a computer desk. Or you could get creative with some wood, some screws, and a kotatsu heater….

Karisu

It always surprised me that for such a technologically advanced society they still have yet to comprehend the benefits of building houses with insulation.

Mark

For a supposedly OECD/G8 nation, the standard of living in Japan more often resembles a developing economy …

The Overthinker

That can probably be said about various aspects of any G8 nation.

darg

Yeah, I’ve always thought the whole lack of insulation thing was really bizarre for a world economic power too.

But! There may be hope for the future still – from the 19th floor vantage point of my office, I have a very plain view from above of a few apartment construction sites in the immediate vicinity of my company, and the other day they were most definitely putting what looked to be a decent amount of insulation in there. I’ve heard others mention that some of the newer buildings are getting better as well, but even so that only puts them like what, 30 years behind the rest of the developed world?

majiimeaussie

In the 10 or so years I have been in Japan I have gone and seen a lot of places under construction. Almost all had insulation. It’s not a new thing. I have no idea how good the insulation is as I don’t understand the rating system in Japan (they don’t use R values).

For me the other passive ideas such as windows to the South with a high thermal mass area near the windows (think concrete, tiles etc) to retain heat, ventilation in the ceiling etc are not used. Design is almost always done to have the street not for sun purposes and the cramped conditions with houses right next to each other makes it hard to consider these items properly.

david

What a coincidence, we’ve just been talking about insulation in houses. 2008 will be the start of our house building project, I want high quality insulation, the wife agrees, I want not alu…double glasing but pvc low-e 2 double glasing, the wife said, GREAT, BUT we will be building a Japanese wooden house based on a western 2×6.
The Overthinker

Don’t you young fellas know that freezing builds character? Why, back in the good old days in the ol’ terakoya schools, we used to have to practice brushmanship in the middle of winter, fingers blue with cold. A true warrior never lets cold defeat him.

Kevin

I wwwas ttttrrying to replllly to ttthis commment, but myy hands aaare toooo cold. Myyy hooouse iss a freezzer.

The Overthinker

Exactly why you need more practice at it…..

Pingback: Ippoippo » Hi Tech Japanese House

The Overthinker

Traditionally, in Japan houses were built for summer. It’s always easier to heat a cold house than cool a hot one, especially when you are limited by fire.

Bjarni

(Note: This post might seem off topic unless you read all of it)
I wish somebody would study ants or rather termites. The reason is that they live in those huge ant hills in conditions where the day is hot and the night is cold. Their problem is that their larvas need a specific stable temperature or they will die. To deal with this they build tunnels that aren’t connected with anything. They will then work as air vents so the heat can escape during the day. They have no problem keeping their home warm at nights either.
In short: they have a natural indoor heating/air condition that’s free and has no pollution problems at all. It would be really nice to know how they do that. It would allow insulation without making the houses way too hot during the summer (btw insulation will also keep the heat out but then you need air condition indoor to avoid people, electronics and stuff to turn the house into an oven)

The Overthinker

Very thick walls is the key. But to build houses with walls in proportion to termite mounds would be highly impractical.

In traditional Japanese architecture, the engawa (縁側) served as a kind of insulating barrier, albeit imperfect.
Bjarni

thick walls would would result in the inner temperature to end up like the average outside temperature. This is not the case. Termites can reduce the temperature to something noteworthy lower than that during mid summer.

There is actually people who tries to study this but without funds they haven’t got very far.

http://www.ippoippo.net Gavin THOMAS

As much as I loved many things about Japan… the housing used to drive me mad.
Sure, some of the older, historic style houses are beautiful to look at, but the new ones never seemed to be much of an improvement in terms of heat retention.

Complete lack of foresight really, given Japan’s lack of natural resources and we are reaching Peak Oil (maybe reached, can’t tell for sure) sooner than what OPEC would like us to believe.

Had my wife and I stayed in Japan… I wouldn’t have been happy unless we’d been able to build our own home with proper insulation.

Housing Insulation in Japan

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