I’m from Sweden. I’m on the same latitude as the northern tip of North Africa. And I’m freezing cold.
Why, you might wonder? Well, the houses here aren’t built for cold. Sure, people will be freezing a lot during the wintry parts of the year, but they won’t die. And besides, they have kotatsu to keep them warm. And air conditioners, although I adamantly refuse to use mine, because it uses a fuckload of electricity and it’s a waste of nature because the warm air will simply leave through any of the many holes or gaps in the apartment.
Thus I freeze. In fact, I’ve caught a cold. My nose has turned into a gooey-stuff-factory and my throat is telling me there’s a bird’s nest in there somewhere and if I wouldn’t terribly mind, it’d like to throw it out posthaste. Tickly sensation. Annoying.
Swedish winters* are admittedly cold, but indoors it’s always warm. If Swedish houses were built like Kyoto houses, there’d be casualties, so we don’t have that luxury, really. Or, the construction companies don’t, rather.
* “Swedish [x]” is a bad thing to toss around especially when it comes to weather. A northern-Swede sees “Swedish typical weather” quite differently from a southern-Swede does. I’m from the south part of the middle, basically.