Unfair!

So, back in the Edo period of Japan, there was a law written into existence that no school shall turn on their Air Conditioner until the sun crests over the highest precipice of Mt. Fuji on the first budding day of shichigatsu - July. Keeping with tradition, despite the stifling heat, my school has abided rigidly to the ancient law, and I had been assuming that their rigidity would continue right on through to the follow up law; section (b) of the Edo council on air conditioning - When the Aircon is in fact turned on on July 1 at daybreak, it must be provoked to churn out icicles on the highest setting possible, never to be adjusted until it's ceremonious discontinuation sometime in September.

Well... here it is my friends, here it is! And, although we (the Hokusho Nishi HS staff) suffered through the heat and unbearable humidity of the last week in June, we have not be rewarded for our suffering on this, the first day of July. Why, I ask, why?

The weather topped off at somewhere around 90 degrees over the last week with a humidity of 90%. Now, I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I swear to you, I'm no long nosed, wooden boy. We've been suffering. (On the plus side, I've learned the various ways of saying "I'm sweaty" depending upon the task I happen to be involved in, whether it be returning from the bank on my bike, or just sitting at my desk. ase ga demasu and ase bisshori desu)

During one of my many musings about the glory of A/C, the secretary at the school planted an evil little weed-like seed in my skull that there might actually be a possibility that the A/C wouldn't be turned on on July 1. What? What kind of screwy teasing and leather-headed logic is that? Apparently, the weather dictates the use of the A/C only when the weather favors NOT using it. Knowing this, I was woefully correct in hypothesizing that my little cool staff-room fantasies would be a crushed by the fists of "relative hotness" today - this July 1. This morning, the sky itself seemed to mock me by covering itself in rolling clouds and a pathetic amount of show-off drizzle. (I refuse to believe that it's a storm! Rather, I feel that the humidity has actually passed the 100% mark and decided to be proactive in wetting everything in the atmosphere down. Let's not go as far as to call it rain, 'mmm k?) I wasn't surprised at all as the school staff room and the gaping windows took shape as I approached on the seat of my bike. Bastards! Doesn't anyone care that I body is slick from perspiration and I resemble a freshly boiled beet when I settle into my seat to start the day?

Please, oh please, turn on the AC. I'm begging you.

I have no other option but to equate the rules and regulations surrounding climate control in my Japanese school to other nonsensical rules of Japan. The air conditioning at HSNHS seems to be regulated more by regulations as to when and how it is used than for, what seems to me the actual purpose of AC, making people comfortable in hot weather.

If it's hot, turn it on. If it's not hot, turn it off. Seems pretty damn simple to me.

Maybe it's just that whoever has the magic inkan (stamp) that officiates the use of the A/C is on a needless business trip, or has taken sick from heat exhaustion and is at the hospital.