Video of water hose shooting ice cylinders like a machine gun shows how freaky cold Japan can get

Spring can’t come soon enough for this employee on morning cleaning duty.

Japanese society generally holds that humility is a virtue, but I’ve met several people in Japan who can’t resist boasting about how “Japan is special because it has four seasons.” Initially it struck me as an odd thing to take pride in, seeing as how it’s not a phenomenon that’s by any means unique to Japan.

Though I’d still take issue with the linguistic elements of the statement, over time I’ve sort of come to understand what those who say it are getting at. The swing in seasons is especially pronounced in Japan, and there’s really something to be said for the starkly contrasting forms of beauty one can enjoy in cherry blossoms flittering through a springtime wind, a balmy summer night spent watching fireworks at a local festival while wearing a light kimono, or gazing out at the crimson-covered forested hills in autumn.

Yet, to this day, I’m not sold on the merits of a freezing-cold winter, and I’m sure I’d hate it even more if I had to spend every morning like Twitter user @wahito9, who recently shared a video of his surreal morning routine.

毎日寒い日が続きますが皆様如何お過ごしでしょうか？ それでは僕の毎朝の日課、トイレ掃除の様子をご覧ください。 https://t.co/qa5RhxVME7

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白米theグレートwahito (@wahito9) February 11, 2017

Although he doesn’t reveal what line of work he’s in or what part of the country he lives in, @wahito9’s daily responsibilities include cleaning a toilet first thing in the morning. So he grabs a hose, turns on the water…and then waits for a cylinder of ice to plop out. If he’s lucky, he’ll get a few seconds of unobstructed water flow. And if he’s not lucky? Well, he’ll get more ice cylinders.

In the above video, it takes more than two whole minutes until the hose is done spitting out chunks of smoothly rounded ice (if you don’t have time to sit through the whole thing, jump to the 1:40-mark for the craziest rapid-fire sequence), with the pile containing several dozen samples. Online reactions have included:

“I love how it’s like he hit the jackpot on a slot machine in the last 30 seconds.”
“Looks sort of like it’s taking a frozen turd.”
“Wow, you can make clear chalk!”
“This looks so fun!”

That last sentiment is one that man commenters, echoed. But while @wahito9 is fully aware of how mesmerizingly entertaining the phenomenon is to watch, while it’s going on he can’t help but think “Umm…I’d like to start cleaning now, if I could.” He even says that this day wasn’t as bad as usual, since even though the overnight low was -2 degrees Celsius (28.4 degrees Fahrenheit), there wasn’t as much ice coming out of the hose as on some other days.

▼ Another video, taken on a comparatively less frigid day

今朝のトイレ掃除。 今朝はかなり暖かいのでホース内に余力があり始めっから水が出ているせいでホース内圧力が上がらずゆっくりめの立ち上がり。 長いの出来ませんか？の問いが多かったので意識して長めのヤツ出してますw https://t.co/DN7LUgnbab

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白米theグレートwahito (@wahito9) February 14, 2017

You know, ever since the Japan Meteorological Corporation released its cherry blossom forecast for this year, I’ve been counting the days until spring starts. But I think @wahito9 might just be looking forward to warmer weather even more than I am.

Source, images: Twitter/@wahito9

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