getting cold...

now time to discuss a few things that confuse me about japan. so japan is supposedly such a technologically advanced society yet...

1. they don't have garbage disposals in their sinks, most people have a weird drain system that you have to clean out manually, it requires you to stick your hand down in the drain and retrieve all that grossness. this results in some food inevitably getting too far down in the drain, and creating funky odors in your house.

2. there is no such thing as central heat. japan uses space heaters to heat all places. houses are also very poorly insulated. so basically this means whatever temperature it is outside it is inside (minus the wind chill factor). and in the schools, classrooms are not heated (luckily the teachers room is, but i feel horrible for the kids).

As temperatures are beginning to drop i am learning that i never appreciated central heat or insulated walls enough. it is always the worst in the morning when i stick my hand out to turn my alarm off and i realize that its pretty cold, the worst its been so far is about 48 F, but its not even december yet!! i keep hearing about how people sleep with ski hats on!!

so this weekend i decided that i finally needed to go buy a futon (blanket) for my kotatsu, so that i could put it to use. a kotatsu is a japanese low style table that has a heater attached to the bottom, and a removable top. so during the cold months, you lift the top and put a blanket over the frame, put the top back on top. then you sit at the table with your feet sticking underneath the blanket. i am currently sitting at mine, and have to say it is quite cozy. i have a feeling i am going to be living at this thing through out the winter.

here is a picture i found online (a little nicer than mine), i'll post a picture of mine soon. now that i have this kotatsu set up in the living room of my apt, i think that my whole apt is feeling more like a home and more comfortable, which is a huge change from when i first got here!