Staying healthy with a drafty house in Japan

I've heard so much lamenting from expats over the years about Japan's non-existent house insulation, and my drafty home is no exception to this rule. It's like a sauna in summer, and like an icebox in winter - and the icebox portion of this in particular is something to consider. Our daughter was diagnosed with childhood asthma during our first winter in Niigata, and a lot of sources I've read indicate that respiratory problems are exacerbated by the cold. Naturally, that freaked me out, and so we've had to strategize to make our drafty digs as warm as we can. Here are some tips we've learned over several years living here.

DIY insulation is your friend.

Look, it's not going to win any design awards or points for aesthetics, but during the winter months we roll out bubble wrap and tape it to our windows. Windows are one of the biggest sources of heat loss (and consequently, heat gain during summer), so trying to minimize this as much as possible helps not only for health, but for your household bills, too. 

Bubble wrap is your friend in drafty homes - DIY insulation!

Watch out for mold/condensation!

You might think that the only time a room is going to get moldy in Japan is during the sweaty, humid summer months, but that's not the case. If your rooms get particularly cold and they're shut off, they're actually very likely to get damp or grow mold. It might seem like a counter-intuitive thing when we're talking about drafty homes, but in the efforts of preventing mold and staying healthy, try to ventilate your home during the day when you can. 

Let the sun do its thing

As I mentioned above, windows are one of the key ways that houses both lose and gain heat, depending on the weather conditions. On sunny days, we try to open up our curtains and shoji doors to let in as much sunlight through the windows as possible, which adds a bit of heat to the home. Once the sun starts to set for the day, we draw the curtains closed, and try to optimize the warmth from the sun that we've generated. The sunshine also helps to prevent mold too, so there's another added benefit to it!

Do you live in a particularly drafty home here? If you do, have you got any additional tips for how you manage to keep it warm - and keep all of your family healthy?