| Experiencing the Japanese winter when I first | | | | and apartments in Japan rarely came with heating; |
| arrived, I knew I was facing a challenge. The | | | | my little apartment was no exception. |
| snow fell and the wind howled. The bitter cold | | | | The kotatsu was one answer. My first kotatsu |
| outdoors is part of winter, but I expected | | | | had a small reddish brown plasticky square table |
| warmth indoors. Central heating in residential | | | | top somewhere between two and three feet |
| housing was not common. Positioning a kerosene | | | | across. The table top rested on the table base |
| heater in the center of the room was just not | | | | with four short stubby legs that were about as |
| the same. The foul fumes from the kerosene | | | | high as the bottom half of my knees. The |
| heaters caused dull headaches. Opening the | | | | kotatsu came with a quilt that was placed |
| window cleared the air, but let the biting winter | | | | between the table top and the table base, |
| cold inside as the room temperature dropped. | | | | covering the sides of the kotatsu, going down to |
| Given the expensive price for this old technology | | | | the floor, and even spreading across the floor a |
| combined with the wretched smell, I did not buy a | | | | bit. |
| kerosene heater for my first apartment. Houses | | | | |