A chilling morning in Kamakura marks the true beginning of winter. As temperatures drop and the air dries out, I find myself adjusting my daily habits—from clothing choices to alcohol intake and mask use—to stay healthy through the season.
The morning temperature in Kamakura was three degrees Celsius.
When Ann asked to go outside and I opened the balcony door, a rush of cold air swept in. Winter has arrived in earnest.
Just a week ago I was in Sapporo, and today the city is reportedly below freezing all day. I narrowly escaped that harsh cold.
A scarf alone is no longer enough, so I put on a sweater. A leather jacket makes me look bulky, so as of today I’ve switched to a coat. Once the cold begins to seep up from the ground, I’ll bring out the down coat, but I’d like to hold off a little longer if I can.
I drank a bit too much at the year-end gathering the day before yesterday, so last night I took a day off from alcohol. I’m not sure how much “resting the liver” actually helps, but at the very least it saves the energy required to metabolize alcohol, which should aid recovery.
As I wrote before, weight control is also difficult in winter. My weight has been slowly increasing since late August, and the trend continues. Like any animal, my body seems to prepare for winter by storing fat—an inconvenient remnant of our adaptation to famine.
Still, in this turbulent world where no one knows what will happen next, perhaps having a bit of reserve is something to be grateful for.
When I mentioned my weight to my wife, her mood suddenly soured and she blamed my drinking habits. I suspect she may have put on a little weight herself.
The yellow sand from China has subsided, but the combination of cold and dryness has irritated my throat. Influenza is also spreading, so I’d like to use a mask whenever possible.
At work, masks are no longer required. In the doctors’ office and other non-patient areas, we don’t need to wear them, and the pathology room is mask-free as well. However, the lab technicians all keep theirs on, and even if I’m the only one without a mask, it doesn’t cause any issue. When my throat starts to hurt—often because I stay in one posture while looking through the microscope and the airflow becomes stagnant—I put on a mask to ease the irritation.
On the train during my commute, the air conditioning aggravates my throat and makes me cough more easily, so I end up wearing a mask for quite a while. It’s good that mask-wearing has become normalized—or rather, that we are now free to choose.
In any case, as the season grows colder and drier, I’ll need to pay closer attention to the weather, my throat, and my eating habits.
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