You will all be gratified to know that winter is knocking on our figurative--and literal--door here in Kyoto. And while the actual snow might not fall for several weeks yet, the temperatures are slowly but surely slithering down.
Now in my opinion, there are few sights more lovely than those found in Japan in the winter. Temples, shrines and gardens that are beautiful in the spring and fall become truly breathtaking in the glitter and shine of snow. One of my favorite wintertime things to do is to wander around the grounds of a temple or shrine in the winter, perhaps discovering stalls selling hot buttered potatoes, chicken karage or scalding takoyaki (warning: never just bite into takoyaki (Octopus balls). The inside of your mouth will burn clean off. Let it cool, then nibble. Carefully).
However, the onset of winter brings the main challenge of the season: staying warm.
It confuses both Bob and I that Japan--a country that we love, that is filled with beauty, innovation and invention--cannot seem to wrap its collective house-building mind around INSULATION.
For example, Patrick came downstairs this morning and went into the living room. I was in the kitchen, perched about 3 inches away from our blaring gas heater.
Patrick suddenly said "Hey Mom, come here for a minute"
I rather resentfully left my heated perch and went into the living room.
"Watch this" Patrick said, and lifted his chin and exhaled. A billow of visible steam issued from his mouth.
I nodded.
He frowned. "But, isn't it just WRONG for me to be able to see my own breath in my own house?"
I nodded. "Yes. But this is Japan. In the winter. Now go turn on that space heater and try not to catch yourself on fire."
So why could Patrick see his breath in our living room?
Because most Japanese houses and apartments have no insulation.
In fact, the floor of our house sits on short, thick concrete supports, leaving a 10 inch crawl space right under our floors. This crawl space has vents to the outside. It WOULD be directly accessible from right inside the house, under the step that goes from our entry way (genkan) to our living area floor, but we covered the gap in cardboard once we discovered that our cats rather enjoyed losing themselves beneath the house.
So there is no insulation in the floor.
There is no insulation in the walls.
There is no insulation in the attic.
There are no double paned windows.
There is no insulation.
And so, as much as we love our house, with its tatami mats and ofuro bath, heated toilet seat and lovely sliding doors, we have to WINTERIZE.
In Japan, to WINTERIZE means
1. Break out the kotatsu cord and unfold that kotatsu blanket and pad. Time to turn into a puddle of goo under the world's greatest invention: the heated table. Who needs to heat a whole room? Just make sure you turn yourself regularly so you can cook evenly.
2. Purchase electric blankets. Patrick and Aya have electric blankets. They love their electric blankets. Bob and I do not have electric blankets. We do, however, have a veritable mountain of blankets and comforters on our bed. Mountain, I say.
3. Invest in a heated rug. Yes, a heated rug. Like an electric blanket that you can walk on. Bob and I won't buy a heated rug, primarily because we have 3 claw-equipped cats who might decide to like the rug a bit too much. But just imagine walking on a heated rug. Mmmmm.
4. One word: heaters. There are an incredible array of heaters in Japan. These appear in stores somewhere in late Autumn. Kerosene heaters (rather dangerous, quite fumey, but rumored to be great at toasting cold toes) . Gas heaters that plug into gas valves installed right in the house walls. Electric space heaters. Heaters, heaters, heaters. We have a gas heater and about 6 small electric space heaters. The gas heater is the most glorious and everyone's favorite because it has a fan in it that blows the lovely heat all over the room. It is also much more efficient at heating than the electric space heaters, and we like to be efficient whenever possible.
But just imagine how much more energy efficient we could be if all this heat generated by heaters, tables, blankets and rugs didn't just drift right out the floor and ceilings.
And if all Japanese houses were insulated, Japanese folks would use less energy.
Which would mean less need for electricity produced by dangerous sorts of power plants that are all too susceptible to the whims of Mother Nature.
So Bob and I are doing our research, trying to find a way to purchase roll out insulation that we can install by ourselves, at least in the attic.
In the meantime, we'll keep huddling by our heaters and beneath our kotatsu.
After all, the family that shivers together....well....shivers together.
Until next time.
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