Sorry, Tokyoites, no more heated toilet seats for you
Facing energy crunch, residents urged to ditch luxuries large and small.
(A native of England, Matthew Diebel is a veteran journalist who has worked at NBC News, Time, USA Today and News Corp., among other organizations. Having spent his childhood next to one of the world's fastest bodies of water, he is particularly interested in tidal energy.)
Do you binge watch “Bridgerton”? Crave “The Crown”? Marvel over “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”? If you live in Tokyo, you are now being pressed to press your TV’s off switch. That, and turn off those beloved heated toilet seats, douse the keep-warm mode on your rice cookers and set your air conditioning at a sweaty 82°F.
Tokyo’s appeal comes after a power crunch in March that nearly brought blackouts to Japan’s capital, with tight electricity supplies expected through the summer and next winter due to the energy crunch spurred in part by the Ukraine war.
“We need to share this sense of crisis,” Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said during a press conference. “We need the support of Tokyo residents and business owners.”
Meanwhile, by a long way, the TV turn-off, toilet-seat cooling and rice cooker/AC power reduction is not all. Straight from a Tokyo Metropolitan Government press release, here are more items from the list:
The standard room temperature for AC cooling is 28 C (about 82°F.)
Clean the air conditioner filter diligently
Change the temperature setting inside the refrigerator from “strong” to “medium”
Do not pack things in the refrigerator
Turn off the heating of the warm water toilet seat and turn down the temperature setting of washing water (summer, spring and autumn)
Reduce the amount of time you turn on the TV by 1 hour a day
Do not keep the rice cooker warm for a long time and unplug it when not in use
If you are using a clothes dryer, use it in combination with natural drying
Replace air conditioners with ones having high energy-saving performance
Replace refrigerators with one having high energy-saving performance
Repair damaged double glazing
Introduce solar power generation and storage batteries on the roof of your house
Wow, Tokyo’s government certainly doesn’t mess around with its marching orders!