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I've heard Kumamoto people say that, although Japan has four seasons,
Kumamoto only has two - Winter and Summer. I think I'm beginning to
believe this. It's May, so technically still Spring, and it's about as hot
as it ever gets in England. I think Spring only lasted for about two
weeks!
All of us English people already seem to be suffering from this
unaccustomed May temperature. Everyone's got very languid and lazy now,
and are bunking lectures more than ever. I've taken to taking a siesta in
the mid afternoon when it's hottest (if I'm not having a lecture, that
is), because the heat makes me so tired, and because I'm guaranteed to get
sunburn if I go out without protection for over an hour (I've caught the
sun on my shoulders from carrying that parcel to the post office).
And yet, the Japanese are still wearing cardigans and jackets. How, I'm
thinking, how? How do they not pass out from the heat?
I've come to the conclusion that Japanese people have a much higher heat
tolerance and intolerance to cold than Caucasians. Actually, this fits a
theory that I heard that all Japanese, Chinese and Korean people
originally all came from the Mongolian deserts, so it's natural they'd be
adapted to higher temperatures. Moreover, Japanese people don't sweat half
as much as Caucasians (Japanese don't really need to use deodorant, and as
a result what deodorant they have here is really ineffective for us smelly
Westerners so we have to get our deodorant sent from England!), which
would be an advantage in a desert area with scarce water.
Ah, I love looking at the evolution of different human races (or
"geographical variants," if we look at ourselves as an animal species).
I've always wondered how us white people came into being, considering what
a disadvantage it is to have pale skin in evolutionary terms (it's
intolerant to excess sun and it gives far less camouflage than dark skin).
My personal theory is that all of us white people originally came from a
mutation - an albino human - in a cold, dark Northern region of the world.
In such a cool, sunless region, white skin would not be so much of a
disadvantage. So, that albino person survived and produced offspring, and
eventually lead to a race of pale-skinned, fair-haired, blue-eyed
Caucasians (albinos of several species, particularly primates, frequently
have blue eyes rather than pink).
Japanese of the Day: 吸血鬼 - kyuuketsuki - Vampire
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