Winter in Japan – Annoyances Part 4

As the winter creeps in and the snow and frost settles over the landscape, Japans beauty yet again takes on another amazing seasonal form.  Winter.  Japan is a great place to live, however, Japanese people don't seem to have heard of a few western convenience:  Central heating, insulation and double glazing.  It's madness.  How can such a civilized country, especially one so prone to extreme seasonal temperatures, not have heard of these basic of amenities.  I open our wardrobe and it is like opening the door to a very large freezer as the cold air smacks you in the face.

They have heaters, but it doesn't seem to really replace the need for some kind of general central heating system.  You see, Japanese people only heat one room at a time.  The heaters they do use are either heating air-conditioners, fan heaters or oil burning heaters.  The oil burning heaters just seem rather crazy as well, requiring stacks of oil cans for refilling, not good when you're on the 2nd floor (3rd floor if you're from Japan, they don't have a ground floor).  Plus they have a flame and give of fumes!  Of course you can also use some of the various heating accessaries such as a kotatsu, a low table with something similar to a bar heater lashed to the underside and a shirt like quilt around the edges to contain the heat.  For me, these just seem to leave my legs burning and my upper torso frozen stiff. It's a little like a grill for your legs.  There are also heated carpets, similar to some electric blankets back home.  These are actually quite nice, but does require me to sit on the floor, which is slowly taking toll on my back and knees.   

I am told “But it is hot during summer, so we need to let the air flow through to cool our homes.”  But surely if you had insulation, once you use the air-conditioner that you are going to use anyway, the cold air will be insulated in!  It's no where near as cold as it was when I lived in Finland, hitting -30 degrees C, but at least there you always had the positive prospect of once entering your home your frozen limbs could be thawed out in the general room ambience rather than feeling like you're stepping out the fridge into the freezer when you walk through the entrance door.  

Mum, please send firewood!  I'm going to have to start a small bomb-fire in the living-room to make to make it through Christmas!