Land of the Excruciating Sun

So i'm on Kyushu, one of Japan's southern islands, and therefore nearer the equator. it's hot and muggy here. Like "step-outside-and-water-starts-condensing-on-your-face" humid, & "seems-artificially-heated-like-a-sauna" hot.

I have found that it is, in fact, true what they said about wearing an extra undershirt layer. counterintuitive though it is, an extra layer really does prevent sweat from pooling under your arms, which is a godsend in the war against summer grossness... As a matter of fact, i bought my first クールビズ, i.e. KuruBizu,, i.e."Cool Biz" workshirt yesterday and am loving it.

Cool Biz, actually, is an environmental campaign in Japan, aiming to reduce electrical (AirCon) consumption in the summer. This, apparently is being accomplished by setting a nationally required air conditionor level and marketing lighter professional clothes to the workforce. Most of them are short-sleeved and made of this awesome lightweight material. A lot of people also forego the tie and top button when rocking these eco-friendly office clothes. Even though my new shirt is long sleeved (i couldnt tell when i bought it, oh well), I am all about this comfy and vaguely environmentally-conscious Japanese practice. Of course, unspoken, the short-sleeved business suit design never made it off of the launch pad. Too soon, Japan. The world is not ready for this:



Anyway. During the first few days at work, i kept catching a whiff of some unpleasantness near me. It didnt seem like any my coworkers--Japanese people have a unique type of BO and bad breath. So i checked my armpits and found nothing but Old Spice freshness. After a couple days of this i realized it was my watch. I was appalled. the watch was strapping sweat against my wrist, ew. Now i keep it sitting beside me on my desk while I work, and i'll probably ditch it altogether after my alien registration card finally comes in and i can get a keitai (mobile phone) for telling the time. At least until it cools down in a few weeks. cause yuck, the last thing i need at this point is wrist-odor (WO).