Friday December 8, 1989
Heating the apartment has been resolved as follows: we have a kotatsu. Imagine huddling under the kotatsu as analagous to pioneers huddling around the fireplace--conducive to close family feeling (except when we need something from the kitchen or someone has to dash to the toilet). The only disadvantage to the kotatsu is it only warms you from the waist down. But we are going to buy >hanten (quilted jackets) to keep our upper bodies warm.
In addition to the kotatsu, we also have an old kerosene heater. It's smelly, but effective. We put a pan of water on top to keep the humidity level up. It's great for keeping tea warm or mulling wine, or slowly cooking chili in a donabe. Normally, though, I turn it on about half an hour before we go to bed and then turn it off (I'm too afraid of both fire and carbon monoxide poisoning to leave it on long). I get up half an hour before it's time to get up in the morning and light it. Otherwise, there is no way I'd be able to get out of bed in the morning. It's literally as cold inside the apartment as outside. Luckily for us we live in southern Japan and it has been unseasonably warm. The lows are typically in the 30s (excuse me, 4 to 6 degrees centigrade), but it hasn't frozen yet.
We take a very hot bath right before bedtime and then sleep in stocking caps. Our Japanese friends think the stocking caps are crazy, but I think those Europeans had the right idea. Our futons are cozy, and with the stocking caps, we are snug as bugs
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
December 08, 1989
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