| Sunrise ... Sunset ... |
[Sep. 15th, 2007|05:35 pm] |
Tokyo is nearer the equator than London (waits for gasps of amazement to die down ... grin)
This means that not only is it hotter (on average) but that the day/night division of hours is much closer to 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime (and that the change from day to night happens faster)
Add in British summer time, and you get a situation where it is dark by 18:30 or so in Tokyo and there's still an hour before sunset in London and even then it will slowly get dark after that, so closer to two hours of useable light ... we're getting near September 23rd so the UK daylight hours are getting closer to 12on/12off but since I've not been getting up at 5:30am, it means that sightseeing in Japan is something that (aside from bright lights of city) is pretty much over by 6pm each day ... then back to the hotel and change for dinner and nighttime events (kareoke etc.)
I was talking to a lovely couple from Liverpool (Jenny and Carl) on the flight back and they had won their flight from a mobile phone game download competition. 7 days in Tokyo at the Hilton Shinjuku ... but they said they were so jetlagged that they were waking in the early hours, having the hotel breakfast, going back to sleep until 2pm and only heading out then ... and that they had pretty much stayed in the Shinjuku area (no subway trips etc.) ... still they sounded like they had had a fabulous time!
My advice to anyone travelling to Japan in the middle of summer is
a) don't, go in Spring for the cherry blossoms (March I think) and the more temperate weather, or in the late Autumn (October)
b) lots of short sleeved white shirts and be prepared to sweat! Drink lots of water!!
c) get up early and go visit things early while it is still only stifling hot and before it gets far too hot and humid ... it rains one day in three in September, and it seems to cloud over more in the afternoon (at least that was my experience) so for the best lighting for photographs, again go earlier in the day and be prepared for a lot of overcast afternoons and rainy days.
e.g. Tomorrow Tokyo will have a high of 33C and a low of 26C, London (Feltham) is a high of 23 and a low of 13 (and dropping to a low of 7C by later in the week), so on a lovely warm summer's day here in Feltham, the high temperature is still lower than the coolest part of the Tokyo night. |
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