worthj1970@yahoo.com (John W.) wrote in message news:<73fde4f0.0404280700.4b8a3c99@posting.google.com>...
> imouttahere@mac.com (Heywood Mogroot) wrote in message news:<dd5de929.0404272235.7147566f@posting.google.com>...
> > 
> > Everything north of Okinawa gets rather cold in the winter. But I
> > never got west of Kyoto in my 8 years in Japan, so maybe there's some
> > coastal place that's nice. 'course, anyone who has found this place
> > sure ain't divulging it to the world I guess...
> > 
> Actually I found the winters in Kansai to be bearable; doesn't really
> snow that much. But it's all relative. I personally prefer a good
> variety of seasons; that's what I disliked most about Northern
> California.

Don't get me wrong, I *did* kind of enjoy the change of seasons in
Tokyo.

It's nice waking up to 5'6" of snow once or twice a year, plus the
post-dinner pre-bedtime ofuro session in mid-winter is quite a treat.

Summer, well, summer just sucked all around. Nothing you can really do
short of running up a Y30,000 power bill, and even that won't help
when you have to go outside...

And after 8 years of freezing my ass off in January, hopping out of
bed, running to the shower to defrost my blood, in August peeling
myself out of the futon with a spatula, taking 3 suzushii showers a
day just to keep the sweat from congealing, I *really* didn't mind
living 3 years in sunny Santa Cruz, CA.

> > Hmmm, maybe Yaku-shima would have the best climate in Japan. Or maybe
> > Shimoda.
> 
> To have the best of all worlds you'll have to have two houses, one in
> maybe Okinawa and the other in someplace that's cool in summer.

Or maybe find a place that is temperate all year. Japan and California
are on the same latitude. Problem I think is that Japan gets the asian
(Siberian) airmass in the winter, and the tropical airmass in summer,
which overwhelms the more temperate coastal microclimates.

> Is
> Shikoku ungodly hot in summer? Seems Kochi ought to have a good ocean
> breeze blowing in.

That's why I posted this. I'd like to check out Shikoku someday.

Or maybe Wakayama-ken. Apparently they get a warm ocean current that
keeps the temps up in the winter.