How hot is it? So hot the heat has a name. In 2007, the Japanese Meteorological Agency started calling days that got over 35 degrees C moushobi, which means “extremely hot day.” (Manatsubi and natsubi, respectively, are 30-34 and 25-29 degrees. Impress your friends!) Turn on the TV or browse a few Japanese blogs, and you’ll see the word moushobi has been getting a workout in the past weeks, with many parts of Japan experiencing day after day of extreme heat. Days when waving an uchiwa is too much work, and even engineered cool fabrics feel like too much to wear. Chemistry comes to the rescue, with creams, lotions, sheets, gels and sprays to keep skin cool and make sweat evaporate quickly, reducing stickiness.
Bub Cool effervescent bath tablets from Kao have cooling ingredients to leave the body feeling cool after a hot bath. Confused? It comes in four scents, including Mint and, new this year, Oriental Spa. Bub Shower is a lotion from the same line that you put on in the shower and then rinse off. It makes the skin feel (disconcertingly) cool and makes sweat evaporate quickly, reducing stickiness.
Convenience store bottles of Gerolsteiner, a sparkling German mineral water that is making a push to increase sales in Japan, now come with a free gift attached, a mildly mentholated sheet to refresh the eyes. Putting mild menthol over your eyes has about the effect you might expect: It will definitely wake you up, but you might be a bit squinty for a few minutes.