conuly

Sadly, it is very, very true. When I lived in Japan my house was made of concrete. No insulation at all, just bare rock. No central heating. A couple of swamp heaters. The Japanese think central heating is wasteful--but I never paid so much in electricity as in the winters I had to use the 300 gadgets that heat one part of you while the rest of you falls off.

All the high tech in Japan is in the male sphere--business, the outside world. In the female sphere, women are still expected to do clothes by hand, almost no one has a washing machine, and serve their husbands sake. There is very little domestic tech. Decadent, don't you know.

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conuly

*sighs*

Well, can't change a whole country just by sighing at them.

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Well, no, most people have a washing machine these days, but no-one really has a dryer.
And wait, what do you mean do clothes by hand? I'm pretty sure women aren't expected to make their own clothes for their families.

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...I never lived anywhere that didn't have a dryer, though I know several apartment dwellers who had neither (though honestly, that's pretty standard for apartments wherever you go, so.).

We just never used the dryer because it sucked up so much electricity. Even back in the US I avoid using it if I can, for the same reason.

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I stand corrected. ^^;

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I was the only one in my neighborhood who had one.

I meant to say wash.

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I'm sorry, this commment was a little confusing to me. So, you never lived anywhere that didn't have a washer, but you were the only one in the neighborhood who had a dryer?

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I was the only one in my Japanese neighborhood who owned a washer. Dryers weren't even on the table. In other places I have lived, this was not the case.

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prezzey.livejournal.com

You can use your desktop computer as a foot warmer in a much similar way... well at least I have used mine :D (Just make extra sure it doesn't overheat.) Take off the covers. Put it under the desk. (Optionally cover the desk with something if it's not the right shape.) Put your feet under the desk. Profit!

It's not something I would do on a regular basis but it saved my life well above the arctic circle in the world's most underinsulated dorm. (The heating was fine. But cold air kept streaming in around the windows and the room was fairly small...)

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I have to disagree with

yuki_onna. I lived in two different places in Japan, both of which were very well insulated. It's true we didn't have central heating, but in one we simply used an electric heater we carried from room to room as needed (the kitchen warmed itself nicely when we cooked, as did the bathroom, and the toilet, well, we were never in there long enough for it to matter). In the other, we had console heaters in every room we turned on as needed.

I'm sure it's largely regional (or maybe not, I never lived in a large city; although neither area was completely rural, we were hardly urban or even suburban, either), but as cute as I think kotatsu are (I totally want one!), I never needed one when I lived there. Both homes stayed pretty comfortably at 65 or so degrees through the winter, and any chill was easy enough to ward off. We had little domestic tech because honestly, we didn't need it.

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Where did you live? I would have been lucky to get my house to 65 any time in the winter. I lived in Yokosuka.

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Yokkaichi (in Mie-ken), so I was a bit south from you. It's surrounded by mountains, though, and got quite chilly outside during the winter (I think we averaged about...I want to say 30~35 or so).

Living there that winter made the first time I'd seen snow in...oh, three or four years. It was very exciting, even if my students thought I'd lost my mind.

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I knoooow. I really want one too.
I have a number of ideas why the Japanese do have them, but not as many on why America doesn't. The one I do have is that Americans dislike inconvenience quite a bit, and don't want to have to stay in one place (or wear extra clothing) to stay warm.

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oloriel.livejournal.com

Actually the Japanese usually don't (or at least say they don't) insulate their homes properly because they all keep expecting the Next Big Earthquake When The Whole Thing Will Fall Down Anyway, So Where's The Point? Whether or not they have a point there is debatable, of course.

I'd have to disagree with Mr. Stonehill, though. The kotatsu as such originates in times when people did not know about insulation, though, so while the existence of the kotatsu may be part of the reason why the Japanese don't see a reason to bother about insulation, it has not been sparked by the lack of insulation.

But yeah, they're awesome.
Dangerous, too, though - every now and then somebody gets a nasty shock (or worse) because they touched some cable that was worn blank. Of course, proper maintenance and attention could prevent such things...

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darbdash.livejournal.com

Right, as someone who lived in northern Japan for eight months during college, and worked there for two years later, I felt the need to weigh in on this discussion. ;)

Kotatsu are very nice, but at the same time, I'd much prefer a centrally heated apartment. My heat came from a kerosene heater that had been set up in my living room/kitchen. Of course, this was a ways from my bedroom, so it was good that I had heavy sheets. Though the kerosene heater made it much easier to dry my clothes (no drier) than in summer. In summer, I just had to either put them out front for all my neighbors to see, or leave them inside and wait for few days for them to dry.

Then again, when I was a college student over there, I only had a hot plate, a toaster oven, and a rice cooker to make food, so going back over there to work, I wasn't expecting much. ;) (Though I loved the vast majority of it!)

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breakableheart.livejournal.com

Want.

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Sadly, it is very, very true. When I lived in Japan my house was made of concrete. No insulation at all, just bare rock. No central heating. A couple of swamp heaters. The Japanese think central heating is wasteful--but I never paid so much in electricity as in the winters I had to use the 300 gadgets that heat one part of you while the rest of you falls off.

All the high tech in Japan is in the male sphere--business, the outside world. In the female sphere, women are still expected to do clothes by hand, almost no one has a washing machine, and serve their husbands sake. There is very little domestic tech. Decadent, don't you know.

From:

conuly

*sighs*

Well, can't change a whole country just by sighing at them.

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Well, no, most people have a washing machine these days, but no-one really has a dryer.
And wait, what do you mean do clothes by hand? I'm pretty sure women aren't expected to make their own clothes for their families.

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...I never lived anywhere that didn't have a dryer, though I know several apartment dwellers who had neither (though honestly, that's pretty standard for apartments wherever you go, so.).

We just never used the dryer because it sucked up so much electricity. Even back in the US I avoid using it if I can, for the same reason.

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I stand corrected. ^^;

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I was the only one in my neighborhood who had one.

I meant to say wash.

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I'm sorry, this commment was a little confusing to me. So, you never lived anywhere that didn't have a washer, but you were the only one in the neighborhood who had a dryer?

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I was the only one in my Japanese neighborhood who owned a washer. Dryers weren't even on the table. In other places I have lived, this was not the case.

From:

prezzey.livejournal.com

You can use your desktop computer as a foot warmer in a much similar way... well at least I have used mine :D (Just make extra sure it doesn't overheat.) Take off the covers. Put it under the desk. (Optionally cover the desk with something if it's not the right shape.) Put your feet under the desk. Profit!

It's not something I would do on a regular basis but it saved my life well above the arctic circle in the world's most underinsulated dorm. (The heating was fine. But cold air kept streaming in around the windows and the room was fairly small...)

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I have to disagree with

yuki_onna. I lived in two different places in Japan, both of which were very well insulated. It's true we didn't have central heating, but in one we simply used an electric heater we carried from room to room as needed (the kitchen warmed itself nicely when we cooked, as did the bathroom, and the toilet, well, we were never in there long enough for it to matter). In the other, we had console heaters in every room we turned on as needed.

I'm sure it's largely regional (or maybe not, I never lived in a large city; although neither area was completely rural, we were hardly urban or even suburban, either), but as cute as I think kotatsu are (I totally want one!), I never needed one when I lived there. Both homes stayed pretty comfortably at 65 or so degrees through the winter, and any chill was easy enough to ward off. We had little domestic tech because honestly, we didn't need it.

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Where did you live? I would have been lucky to get my house to 65 any time in the winter. I lived in Yokosuka.

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Yokkaichi (in Mie-ken), so I was a bit south from you. It's surrounded by mountains, though, and got quite chilly outside during the winter (I think we averaged about...I want to say 30~35 or so).

Living there that winter made the first time I'd seen snow in...oh, three or four years. It was very exciting, even if my students thought I'd lost my mind.

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