A phrase heard often this winter is samusa ga mini shimiru (寒さが身に沁みる, the chill settles right into the bones), as everything — from the weather to office temperature to the predicted wintry fukeiki (不景気, bad economy, bad times) of Valentine’s Day chocolate sales — seems to have veered several degrees closer to that state known as frigid. The Japanese like to describe this island nation as ondan (温暖, warm and mild) in climate and have traditionally linked frost and low temperatures to no money and bad times. Atatakasa (暖かさ warmth) will heal and nurture everything, while samusa (寒さ, cold) deprives and worsens.

Speaking of icy, there’s also the disheartening issue of shūkatsu hyōgaki (就活氷河期, employment-campaigning ice age), which hit the nation more than a decade ago. Since then the ice, as it were, has grown thicker; college graduates scrambling to land positions (hence the campaigning) will often find a letter of naitei torikeshi (内定取り消し, employment-promise cancellation) in the mail. This now happens a lot more often than 10 years ago, and the prospect of gaining a seishain (正社員, official and formal employee) position, with its guarantee of stability and perks, gets more difficult with each shūkatsu season.

Brrr, times are tough. Makes me want to button up and crawl into bed and play games on my keitai screen for the rest of my life. Ah, tōhi! (逃避, escape!) But then I always remember talking heads in the media saying that it was this kind of escapist attitude that was to blame for the freeze that grips the nation’s economy. Shame on me.