Hotels, Universities, and Akihabara

Even where I am staying they practiced setsuden this summer, although it was minimal. For example, they kept the lights off, decreased use of air conditioning, and advised guests to use as little energy as possible. It is also possible that they're still maintaining some aspects of energy conservation. I've noticed that the light in my hallway has stayed off at all times. Additionally, there are stickers above light switches advising guests to turn off lights/ taps when not in use. Besides that, we haven't been warned by the staff to decrease energy usage.

A student at Waseda University told me that this September, around the end of the true setsuden season, they had to decrease air conditioner use and maintain temperatures of 27-28 degrees Celsius in the labs at her school. Furthermore, she was told to unplug toilet seats when not in use -- Japanese have heated toilets. Additional energy saving measures included turning things off when they're not in use, using only one thing at a time if there are two (for example, only using one hot plate), and taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Finally, she noticed that the trains on the Fukutoshin subway line turned their engines off for a few seconds each time they stopped. This helped decrease fuel usage.

She said that setsuden measures are still in effect at some department stores, which have been reducing heating and maintaining a fairly cool temperature of 20 degrees Celsius.

Today I went to Akihabara, the electronics district, to see if I could find any remnants of setsuden. My search wasn't very extensive, but I found no superficial indication of energy conservation. According to the Waseda student, this summer saw a different Akihabra: all of the store lights were turned off during the daytime, and turned on only after night had fallen.

Akihabara