It’s the Simple Things
In Japanese homes, centralized heating does not exist. It simply isn’t done. Instead, there are a variety of heating methods that take the place of what we in the West take for granted.
The traditional (in a modern sense) Japanese way to keep everybody warm is the kotatsu, a table with a heating element underneath it. The kotatsu is a low table, maybe only 18 inches off the floor (taller kotatsu are sold, but the low ones are the most common). The top comes off to show the frame with the heating unit; place a comforter over it, and put the tabletop back on–and presto, you have a nice heated table.
People sit around the table with their legs underneath to keep them warm. Usually, there are seats with no legs–just a chair seat and seat back–which keep everyone sitting comfortably that close to the ground. And not just humans enjoy it:
Now, put a bowl of mikan (mandarin oranges) on the table and you’ve got classic Japonica.
For some reason, I’ve never been too enamored of the kotatsu. I used to have one, twenty years ago, back in Toyama, but I don’t think I’ve had one since. It’s nice and all, but it doesn’t heat your upper body, and I tend to move around the apartment–and the kotatsu is only good for keeping your legs warn when you’re sitting.
One alternative I used back in Toyama was the kerosene stove heater. Every so often, a kerosene seller comes around and you can fill up your red plastic kerosene container; using a special plastic pump, you can siphon the fuel into the heater, and fire it up to warm up the room. Often there’s a space on top to put a tea kettle or anything else you want to warm up. The down side: it’s a pain to fuel, and smells kinda bad, too. And I hate the tunes (wav file) the trucks play when they come around.
Here in Tokyo, a lot of people use their reidanbo–literally, a “cooler-heater,” or an air conditioner with a heating unit installed. They are virtually ubiquitous in Japan; I have two, in fact. Many apartments come with them pre-installed (not my place, though). I’ll sometimes use this, but it uses tons of electricity, and is not an cost-effective way to heat the house.
The remaining way is, in my opinion, the best: using natural gas piped into the house to fuel gas heaters. I used to use the kind that simply light up heating elements, like four book-sized orange-glowing panels behind a sparse metal grill. This is called a “gas stove”:
The problem with these, however, is that they don’t circulate the heat very effectively. So the ultimate heating unit is called a “gas fan heater,” a heater which uses a nice fan to blow the warm air a good distance so it fans out. I’ve had one for some time, but it’s a huge, old, used unit which tends to cut out the heating part while the fan stays on, just blowing cold air around. So I broke down and went out and bought a new unit–last year’s model, on sale for $200.
It’s a nice unit–has a sleep and wake-up feature that shuts down and turns on the fan by a timer, but the feature I like is the thermostat, which automatically turns the unit down to a very low setting once a certain temp has been reached. And when on high, it heats up my big room fast.
And yes, I know that I can wear a sweater. Call me jaded.
Finally got to make a comment after lurking for so long…
I’m up in Aomori and I agree with most of what you say. Certainly the kerosene heaters are smelly, unless you’ve got a forced-flue one, which is magnificent. None of the moisture or CO2 danger of any other fuel-burner. Mine puts out around 4500W of pure dry heat.
Also, the air cons that can heat are perhaps more commonly known as scroll-inverters or heat pumps. They’re much more efficient than an electric heater because the unit doesn’t create the heat from scratch.
You people in Tokyo are so soft, anyway. I get down to -15 (Centigrade) up here and more than a metre of snow accumulation.
Yeah, Tokyo-ites are soft, I’ll agree with that. I used to live up in Toyama, where is can snow a lot. We’d have 5 feet of snow piled up outside and the trains, trams, and buses all ran–then we’d see Tokyo on the news getting a few inches and half the transportation shuts down while pedestrians slip and slide all around.
Gotta face it: we’re lame.
i’m not sure where you got the information that central heating simply isn’t done in Japan. I know many people (Japanese and foreigners alike) that have central heating in their houses or mansions. Especially popular now is central floor heating which heats water and runs it through tubes under the flooring. I personally don’t have this but I can dream, can’t I!!