Buying an Air Conditioner for My Family Home in Japan

Good morning!

Today, I’m taking the Shinkansen from Tokyo to my hometown, Utsunomiya, in Tochigi Prefecture.

Life has been quite busy lately, and sometimes it feels difficult to keep up with all the changes happening around me.

Still, I’m doing well.

How are you doing these days?

I currently work in Tokyo, but my family home is in Tochigi, so I often travel back and forth between the two locations.

This trip has one important mission: buying an air conditioner for my family home.

Is Air Conditioning Essential in Japan?

When I was a child, summer felt very different.

People would sprinkle water on the ground outside their homes—a traditional practice called uchimizu—to cool the surrounding area.

Back then, it seemed to make a noticeable difference.

Today, however, summers in Japan have become much hotter.

Last year, temperatures in my hometown reached nearly 40°C (104°F).

Even at night, the heat lingered, making it difficult to sleep.

In my apartment in Tokyo, I use air conditioning regularly.

Surprisingly, my family home still doesn’t have one installed.

Considering how hot Japanese summers have become, I finally decided that it was time to change that.

Good sleep is important for health, and enduring extreme heat just isn’t worth it.

Where Should I Buy It?

I don’t enjoy spending too much time shopping, so my first thought was to order everything online.

Yamada Webcom

Yamada Denki offers several affordable private-label air conditioners.

The prices looked attractive, making it my first choice initially.

BicCamera.com

I have a credit card that earns points at Bic Camera, so purchasing there would have allowed me to accumulate additional rewards.

Yodobashi Camera

Yodobashi Camera has a strong reputation for customer service.

I’ve always had positive impressions of the company.

Where Did I Actually Buy It?

In the end, I bought it at a local Yamada Denki store near my family home.

Not exactly the exciting online-shopping story I expected!

I contacted Yamada Webcom with a question about installation, but after two weeks I still hadn’t received a reply.

Bic Camera and Yodobashi Camera were also options, but the prices weren’t significantly different, and I found the installation process somewhat difficult to understand online.

Eventually, I decided:

“It’ll be faster to just visit the store.”

So I went to the local branch, spoke directly with a staff member, selected a model, and completed the purchase.

Honestly?

It was much easier that way.

And yes, by the end of it, I was pretty tired.

Don’t Wait Until Summer

If you’re living in Japan and thinking about buying an air conditioner, I recommend doing it before the hottest part of summer arrives.

Once temperatures start climbing, installation companies become extremely busy.

Waiting times of several weeks—or even a month—are not uncommon.

With the increasingly intense summers we’ve been experiencing, preparing early can save a lot of discomfort later.

Now the air conditioner is ordered, and all that’s left is to wait for installation day.

One less thing to worry about this summer.

Satoshi

Hello, I’m Satoshi. I’ve been working as a staff member for an organization for over a decade. During that time, I’ve had various experiences, from launching new businesses to streamlining operations using information I’ve gathered from the internet and my own experiences. Of course, I’ve been successful with the help of colleagues and superiors, and I’m grateful to them. Nowadays, I find myself in a position where people from various backgrounds ask me for advice and share their knowledge. However, being constantly approached has made me realize that I need to protect my own time. So, I’ve decided to start a blog called ‘Satoshi Lab’ to share knowledge. I hope that by writing about my thoughts and experiences, people will enjoy reading and find it helpful in their own journeys.