❄️ How Cold is Japan in Winter? ❄️

This is the first time I've been to Japan in the winter Before I've been in the spring or the autumn And it's always been really pleasant, summery temperatures to me So this time, it's a winter trip So I thought I'd share with you what it's like Because I wasn't sure what to pack Or how cold it'd be I'm going to show you what it's like in winter in Japan First in Tokyo And then north to snowy Hokkaido Where it was extreme cold The coldest place I've ever been I'll give you some tips about how to deal with the weather And what to wear And also some benefits to going to Japan in winter There's new Japan videos on my channel every Thursday If you want to subscribe And if you're watching this as it comes out It's not too late to join in with Japanuary My Instagram & Twitter challenge There's one week left All the details are on cakeswithfaces.co.uk Slash Japanuary Now, on to the video! At the moment it's the start of February And I'm in Tokyo The weather does vary quite a bit Japan's actually really long So the climate varies from the north to the south Next week I'm going to be in Hokkaido So I'll tell you what it's like there It's going to be a lot colder And if you're going to the south Near Kyoto Or in Kyushu Or Fukuoka That is a bit warmer there as well So it does vary So, how cold is it in Tokyo in winter? If you'd asked me yesterday I would've said not very Because yesterday it was a freakishly warm day It was about 17 degrees centigrade And it was really warm & sunny And it felt like a nice spring day I was actually too hot in my coat I went round just in my t-shirt & my zip-up hoodie But today it's got a lot cooler You can see I'm wearing my scarf & my gloves Today it's about 7 degrees centigrade And it feels so much colder Especially in the evening The temperature drops As soon as the sun starts to go down It gets a lot cooler So you do need a coat For me, I feel the cold easily So I need a scarf as well And on sunny days It feels a lot warmer than it does On a cloudy day like today You feel the cold a lot more Of course, how cold it seems Depends on the climate where you live For me, it was quite a shock Being in Tokyo in the morning Where the weather seemed quite mild Then after a 4 hour trip on the bullet train Stepping out into this in Hokkaido But it really was an experience I've never been anywhere like this Just look how bleak it looks at the fish market We're in Hakodate now Which is in Hokkaido Which is the northernmost island of Japan And as you can see It's quite a bit colder here It's about minus 3 today And tomorrow it's going to be minus 11 So today's the warm day I'm wearing my coat A hoodie, a vest top underneath that And I've got my thermal tights on From Uniqlo And my new snow boots Glove, scarf & hat And my fingers are still pretty cold now actually We're trying to walk as fast as we can To get up some body heat Today it's about minus 11 I can feel the cold on my legs And we haven't even gone outside yet It looks really snowy out there The coldest it ever gets in the UK Is about minus 1 or 2 I remember once it was minus 6 In the middle of the night once So we're not really used to this If you're planning a trip And want to see what the weather's like In a particular place On timeanddate.com You can look up what the weather was like In previous years For your exact dates So you can see that when I was there It really was minus 13 degrees C We just got some drinks from the convenience store Out of the fridges And we couldn't tell if they were cold or not Our hands are that cold! When I got back to the hotel All the things in my bag Felt really freezing Like they'd been in the fridge And today it's only minus 2 So it feels quite tropical Compared to the other days When it was minus 11 And it's quite nice in the sun The snow's quite pretty when the sun shines Today we're at Otaru At the Snow Light Path Festival And it's really beautiful It's also really cold It's about minus 7? I think Chris said minus 6.3 a minute ago The temperature's dropping! So it's not as cold as it has been But I think the extra bit of wind here Close near the sea Makes it feel quite a lot colder Yeah, it still is very cold Not as cold as in Hakodate When it's windy it feels a lot worse Especially when it's snowing And it's windy and the snow's all blowing in your face! And here it's almost beautiful enough To forget about the cold Not quite! Next, what to wear in Japan in the winter In Tokyo, I was fine in a normal winter coat Scarf, gloves & hat But for Hokkaido Where it's a bit more extreme We stocked up on thermal clothing There's a clothes shop here called Uniqlo There's branches everywhere And they do a range of thermal clothing called Heat Tech That's specially designed to keep you warm In Japan's cold winter I bought some for when I go to Hokkaido And, well, I'll let you know how good it is But there's a big display of them here in Tokyo Station I bought them online in the UK Off Uniqlo's website They're actually a bit cheaper here in Japan I'm actually not sure If the Heat Tech vest was much more effective Than a normal vest top It's made of a thinner fabric So you can layer up without being so bulky But I was wearing so many layers That I think I was pretty much past that point So buy thermals if you want to But really, just try and wear some extra layers So today I'm wearing my Heat Tech thermal vest from Uniqlo A t-shirt A hoodie A skirt My thermal tights And leg warmers I'm really glad I bought these My legs would be freezing otherwise And my snow boots And my scarf If you like this scarf you can get it from my website My hedgehog scarf It's my own design My Uniqlo Heat Tech gloves And my hat And my fingers feel kind of numb And my toes keep getting cold as well I wish I'd worn two pairs of socks My body feels ok But my face is really cold So today I've got my Heat Tech vest on With a Heat Tech long-sleeved shirt on top of that as well And then I'm wearing a hoodie Quite a thin hoodie But a zip-up hoodie And my coat And I'm wearing some thermal legging things underneath Style! Everything... There you go They're under there Very stylish If I take off my jeans and my coat Everything is just grey But I'm wearing them I've also got some thermal socks on And you've got normal shoes on I have These are some shoes that my sister bought me They're just Converse But they are waterproof And my toes don't feel too bad The other day I was wearing non-thermal socks And my feet were freezing But today they're ok Generally I'm not too cold It's just my face and my fingers That's a problem So lots of thermal stuff seems to work quite well I'm also wearing this scarf And if you like this scarf You can get it from Amy's website We've got our matching scarves on today And then just a hat I have If you're worried about all this bulky clothing Taking up space in your suitcase Remember that you can wear your outer layers More times than you usually would This might be too much information But when you're walking around You're not going to sweat as much as you would in warmer weather So I found it was ok to re-wear my warmest clothes And save space Now I've got some tips for you On how to deal with the cold Sorry about the wind noise here I actually filmed all my Hokkaido videos on my little camera Just in case I slipped over on the ice And dropped it Before we came to Hokkaido Lots of people said it's really slippery on the pavements And I'm a complete baby When it comes to the ground being icy And falling over I'm really terrible At home If it's icy and slippery on the floor I won't go out Seriously! So I was actually a bit scared About how slippery it was going to be But it really isn't that bad Most of the ground is compacted snow So it's kind of crunchy And that's not slippery There are little patches Where you feel one foot slide a bit But it's really not that bad I've had a couple of moments Where I've sort of gone Oop! Oop! Slipped! But I've not actually fallen over And I've not seen anyone fall over No, no-one's actually fallen over I have seen people with these little cleats you can buy So you sort of strap them over your shoes And they're metal spikes I thought we were going to pick some up But it doesn't really seem like we need it Yeah, I thought I'd need them You can get them in convenience stores Quite cheaply But with these snow boots I've been absolutely fine Having these slightly taller snow boots Is really good Because it means the snow Isn't going to go over the side of your shoe And make your feet wet It'll be the last thing you want And when I do find a slippery bit on the ground It always seems to be in the middle of the road So watch out for that! Yeah, when you're crossing the road Just be careful And before we came here One of the things I read Was that locals walk like penguins So they don't slip over I don't see that I don't know if that's true But I think I've been walking in a really stupid way anyway Because I'm so cold I've been hunched and shuffling! Here's just a cupboard by the side of the road Full of packs of sand That you can sprinkle on the ice To make it less slippery You can just take them freely It's not that slippery though actually Another way of surviving the cold Is getting heat packs They're called kairou And they sell them in convenience stores 31 yen, 34 yen Or in multi-packs, 307 yen For 10 of them It's quite cheap We got these ones for free From the Sapporo Snow Festival yesterday In goodie bags I heard someone shouting kairou So I was like, yes, please give me them! And you can put them in your pocket To keep your hands warm How do they work? I don't know I assume you scrunch them up And they warm up You open them, right? Yes OK, here's one So what's that? It's not warm yet Scrunch Is it warming up? No Oh! How do you work this thing? Ah, my fingers are really freezing! Sorry, this isn't going to help you No, this is just cold I'm mashing, I'm scrunching! We need assistance OK, definite heat coming through on the kairou now They do take a little while to warm up Maybe that 10 on the packet Meant it takes 10 minutes to warm up My fingers need this They're frozen This is Phil's patented technique For focusing your camera phone When your fingers are too cold I'm turning the flash on and off These gloves are supposed to be conductive So you can use your phone But I think they've got so cold That it doesn't work I'm going to choose my nose Which somehow is warmer Yesterday it got so cold Both our phone batteries died And our wifi battery ran out All the electronics shut down One way to survive the cold weather Is hot drinks from the vending machines Pretty much all the vending machines I've seen Have hot drinks as well as cold drinks They have hot chocolate Coffee in a can Some of them have soup Like sweetcorn soup One of them over there's got tomato soup And I've seen honey and lemon drinks actually Sounds interesting The hot drinks in the vending machine Have red labels instead of blue So you can tell which ones they are We're going to try some hot drinks from the vending machine Phil's trying this cocoa And I'm going to try the red bean soup Nice and warm Is it really hot? Not hot It doesn't burn your hand No it's nice This one's a bit hotter Nice! That's nice Is it chocolatey? It's very, very chocolatey Pretty rich It's not very thick It's not that hot But it is nice It's a cold day So it's good Sounds good I want to try it No it's mine I want a bit! You should have had some though Nice, it's really sweet And it's got bits of beans in But good this time to have bits in your drink I quite like it actually The next one I want to try Is this sweetcorn soup Which I've heard is delicious They do hot drinks in convenience stores as well It looked like one of the fridges But it was warm instead of cold I've got a bottle of coffee It's actually pretty big I don't think this is as hot as they are for the vending machine When your feet start going numb It's hard to have a good time So it's a good idea to take breaks from the cold And go inside for a bit We actually discovered some cool places We might not have gone into otherwise Like this bar in Otteroo We've come into a bar to warm up They've made some steps outside Going up the side Made out of snow It's a really cool idea And yes, the lens is steamed up now We've come indoors I hope this doesn't break my camera There are also some benefits to going to Japan in the winter You can visit snow festivals There's skiing & snow sports Beautiful winter illuminations And because it's the off-season Places aren't going to be as busy as they would be at other times of year So you can enjoy them more I also got some great prices for the flights One of the benefits of being here in winter Is winter illuminations I always think of them as Christmas lights But in Japan they're not just for Christmas They're for the winter So while there are more on in December during Christmas Some of them carry on until now in February I think some carry on until March as well And they look so magical I hope you found that useful Personally, I prefer warm summery weather But I was surprised by a winter trip The cold didn't stop me having a good time And it really was an experience going to Hokkaido And I think if you're going to go there You want to see it when it's all wintery & snowy So don't let the cold put you off Remember to have a look at my designs On capeswithfaces.co.uk And I'll be back next week on Thursday I'll see you then!