DIY air conditioner

It's starting to get hot in Kyoto, especially upstairs in my house, so my girlfriend has been telling me we should buy an air conditioner, but those are on average $400 to $700 and drink a lot of electricity. I remembered once seeing a DIY air conditioner on reddit once, so today I went to a "home center" and got a few things: a bucket (was looking for a styrofoam cooler but they didn't have any), some PVC elbows, and a small fan. Here's the build:

Step one! Trace the shape of your fan on the lid.

Next cut a hole a little smaller than the size of the fan so it has something to rest on.

Something like this, doesn't have to be exact.

Next trace the shape of your PVC elbows on the sides of the bucket.

Cut em' out.

These should fit pretty tightly in there. 

Tape up the seams so no air comes out. I used some aluminum tape which worked nicely.

I tried to get a good seal.

Finished!

Put some frozen bottles of water in there.

Turn on the fan and it's done! 

Optional last step: eat reimen 「冷麺」！

That's it! Total cost of materials including the fan: about $30! And it will use way less electricity than a regular air conditioner.