Tobu-Tojo Line - Outbound Left Side View - (C) - (120118)

[SossarHatarSverige]

It looks cold, was it below zero?

[lylehsaxon]

@SossarHatarSverige Yes! It was about -6 I think, but it warmed up later in the day. - LHS

[SossarHatarSverige]

@lylehsaxon That's much colder then I had imaged, I live in southern central Sweden and so far this winter we have not had more then 3 nights that low, but this is way more north then central Japan.

I feel lucky now;).

[lylehsaxon]

@SossarHatarSverige As I walked to the station that morning, my face hurt and I remember wishing I had a warm scarf or something to put my face behind! Fortunately it doesn't get quite that cold so often, although it drops below freezing fairly often. But wait... we're both talking about degrees in centigrade, right? - LHS

[SossarHatarSverige]

@lylehsaxon Yes, centigrade is the same as Celsius right?(Celsius was actually Swedish so thats what we use here).

It seams as if east coast Japan has much clear winter weather compeered to the fairly rainy summer, so at winter you get many nights where the temps drop as a result of no cloud cover and longer nights.

But it also gives many nice sunny days and from Japans southern position the sun should be strong enough to make it pleasant by midday, even if the morning was cold.

[lylehsaxon]

@SossarHatarSverige Yes, Celsius and centigrade are the same. I sometimes use one and sometimes the other - I'm never sure which term I should be using :). One thing that makes Tokyo feel quite cold at times is the wind. But speaking of dry Tokyo winters - we just had a rare snowstorm last night and so everything is covered in white! If it doesn't melt away before I get a chance to record it, I'll post a video of some of it. - LHS

[SossarHatarSverige]

@lylehsaxon Ok, so snow in Tokyo right now huh, i hope you get some snow videos before it melts.

One of my interests actually is to grow hardy exotics and I know that Tokyo is home to both large Canary palms and large Washingtonia palms(I'm jealous), they are quite plentiful at Disney Land (mild by the bay) for example. I would love to see those palm trees under snow one day, but when I finally go there, it will be in summertime. - SHS ...;)

[lylehsaxon]

@SossarHatarSverige I'm not very knowledgeable about plants, but there do seem to be quite a large variety of plants here! I have noticed however that the palm trees seem a little less healthy than what I've seen in warmer climates, so I think this is probably the cold edge of where they can survive. As I type this, the snow is melting, but there appears to be enough of it that at least some of it will be remaining later on when I get a chance to take some video. - LHS

[SossarHatarSverige]

@lylehsaxon Believe it or not the Washingtonias(those tall fan palms famous from LA-streets ) are fine with cold winter nights, they are suffering from the super high humidity, you can't grow them in the tropics, most hardy palms/exotics are from desert climes. But Japan has a few native palms, most famous is Trachycarpus(mid size palm with fan leafs) they are found both wild and domestic. Anyway, will you go to Tokyo Sky Tree someday? I hear it's opening later this year.

[lylehsaxon]

@SossarHatarSverige So the humidity is harder on them than the cold! In the winter, I always looked at them when I felt cold and thought: "Ah... the palm trees don't like the cold either!". You can see how little I know about plants! I'll definitely be going to the Sky Tree tower at some point, but haven't decided when. It's likely to be extremely crowded when it first opens....

[SossarHatarSverige]

@lylehsaxon Cool, would love to see the skyline from the TST, Sumida should have good views over the city. For the Washingtonias it is the humidity that is most likely the problem, in the US they grow in some areas with annual drops to 12-15C bellow, but it's dry climate, in South Florida they die.

But yeah, ideally they would prefer warmer winters.

But the ones you see so many of, is the Trachycarpus, when neglected, they look a bit rough, dead leafs hanging, "hairy"(fibers) trunk.

[lylehsaxon]

@SossarHatarSverige Re: "Trachycarpus, when neglected, they look a bit rough, dead leafs hanging, "hairy"(fibers) trunk." Yeah! That's the one! I used to live near the Shonan beach and there a number of those in that area.