Saturday 17 October 2009

A kotatsu is your weapon to face winter in Japan!

In Japan houses are made of wood. Even buildings in Tokyo, they are still made of wood. Wooden houses mean lots of holes, and incapability to preserve heat inside the house, and a very cold house in winter.

As winter is approaching fast, we have to think of a way to preserve heat inside the house, you know to save the environment, and more importantly -honestly!!- to save our pockets!

A Kotatsu is an ideal solution for this problem. Let me now introduce you to a kotatsu.





As you can see in the pictures, a kotatsu is a table that is covered from all sides with a heavy blanket, and a person can sit and put his legs inside the blankets to protect them from cold. Pretty warm yeah? Not so much before you know that under the table there is an electric heat source that will keep you, and your legs, very warm.

The basic concept solves the problem of using ordinary heat sources in Japanese houses. As I said above the wooden nature of the houses allows cold from outside to be in the house, which will render any heat source you use inside the house useless. But with a kotatsu, the head comes from under the table and stays there as it is protected by this heavy wall of blankets.

Some Japanese also sleep under a kotatsu, which is a very clever idea. But ofcourse, this will raise the chances of catching a cold!

Maybe I will buy one for my own house, you know as a spoil for my legs!!

4 comments:

momiji said...

Just imagining it makes me feel warm :)
I have seen another similar "invention" in my japanese teacher house, she brought it with her from japan.
It looks like an ordinary carpet but inside it there was an electrical heat source which keeps the carpet warm while you walk or sit on it.
I really enjoyed japanese lessons while sitting on that carpet during winter time -^__^-

Anonymous said...

KOTATSU...i missed it! you should have one. it is very practical and also it will be your good old memory after leaving japan. surely you will remember kotatsu with big nostalgia in the winter time...!

K-s

Amani AbuQdais أماني أبوقديس said...

aa walla ya sanado bedha kotatsu..
I was just thinking yesterday for the 100th time about how nice would it be to have a kotatsu in my freeeezing room

subzero said...

I wanna buy one!
But I do not have space in my house (T_T). This needs a separate room!