Kotatsu
Continuing the popular ‘not-dying’ theme, Ive set up my kotatsu. A kotatsu is one of those archetypal only-in-Japan things that foreigners like me coo over when we see them for the first time. Its basically a coffee table with an integrated heater - unpleasantly garish duvet optional.
The basic premise of a kotatsu is that during the bitter Japanese winter, one can carry out coffee-table related functions whilst enjoying the sensation of not getting frostbite. You sit with your legs under the table and the optional unpleasantly garish duvet draped on your lap. Of course, because the heating element is attached to the underside of the table, all that really happens is your legs cook whilst your arms freeze.
My kotatsu has been relegated to the rank of ’studying desk’, which means it will never get used. On the table lies a selection of Japanese language books, from grammar to kanji, and a shedload of manga, which I have started to purchase recently under the flimsy pretext that they help me practice my reading.
Pushing my predictable cynicism aside for a moment, I do like my kotatsu. You wont find a piece of furniture more worthy of the word ’snug’. However, the unnerving smell of burning wood / leg-hair that infuses the room when I switch the kotatsu on is slightly off-putting.
Capetown Clarke sorting dependability clarity Tate partition - Tons of interesdting stuff!!!