Kotatsu こたつ

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It finally became cold.
Actually, it's not that cold. Temperatures during the day are in the 40s or low 50s (about 8-10 C) and overnight we have approached freezing for only the last two nights. I grew up in Chicago, where there is snow and temperatures at this time of year are well below freezing, and I love winter sports, so it should be easy for me right? The thing is, indoor heating is quite different in Japan. Our house, like most houses, is not insulated, has single pane windows, and lacks central heat. At work, the classrooms are not heated in any way (some of the boys classes keep the windows open!), and the staff rooms are heated to about 65 (sometimes). So, we have adapted to the Japanese way to keep ourselves warm. We have small space heaters for each of our rooms, electric blankets to keep us warm at night, and our beloved kotatsu. The image above is our upstairs living room, where we spend most of our time when at home. The kotatsu, or heated coffee table, has a heat mechanism underneath it, so when one sits on the tatami chairs (in brown) with the blanket pulled up around them it is toasty warm. We use the same table in warm weather, but the blanket, which is sandwiched between layers of wood, comes off for summer, and the plug for the heat mechanism detaches. A google image search of 'kotatsu' confirmed my suspicion that my cats would love to sleep under the blanket, there are many images on various blogs and photo sites of Japanese kitties, and a few small dogs, relaxing under the kotatsu. In reality, it is quite efficient to heat only the room that one is using, but I think the drafty windows and lack of insulation might negate some of that efficiency. Regardless, I enjoy the kotatsu, as well as the Japanese phrase that is equivilent to the couch potato, the kotatsu muri (kotatsu snail), so termed because when sitting under a kotatsu with only your torso visible, people take on the appearance of a snail (see the image below, found via an image search). And really, the weather isn't that bad, it's great for wearing comfy sweaters and drinking hot chocolate. Here's to the joys of winter!