By Claytonian
Forgive me, I'm not near as good an illustrator as our own Martin, but I thought that this drawing, which started as a absentminded sketch while thinking about winter, encapsulates a lot of my impressions of Japan when it is cold. And it's still quite cold as I write this!
That whole lack of significant insulation or central heating thing that happens in homes over here necessitates a certain lifestyle. Let's analyze my scribble to see what I've included from the lifestyle. First off, lets talk about the mikan in the room.
Mikans are like oranges. Or clementines. Or something. I hear them referred to by all kinds of names, but I just know them as the citrus that dominates the countryside to which I first moved when I came to Japan. The people of the city import the mikans by the veritable basket-load for winter consumption as they are easy to get during this time. And then they give them to their eikaiwa teachers, or customers, or passing strangers. There are a lot of mikans coming into my house at any given time.
Besides the anthropomorphised mikan, there are some other wintry objects. For instance, we have his hat. I don't get the impression that many Japanese people wear hats in their cold rooms, but I certainly do. I get wrapped like a Bedouin each night.
Then there is the stove. These are filled with noxious gas and will probably kill you. So of course lots of people use them. The stove is often topped by a teapot to keep moisture in the air and teacups. Or in my case, laps.
The most important heating object in this picture is of course the kotatsu. Not pictured is the air conditioner. Where I come from, air conditioners only cooled air, but here they go both ways. Despite the fact that heat rises, air conditioners are always near the ceiling. The TV is important too; it distracts one from the bitter pain of the cold.
Forgive me, I'm not near as good an illustrator as our own Martin, but I thought that this drawing, which started as a absentminded sketch while thinking about winter, encapsulates a lot of my impressions of Japan when it is cold. And it's still quite cold as I write this!
That whole lack of significant insulation or central heating thing that happens in homes over here necessitates a certain lifestyle. Let's analyze my scribble to see what I've included from the lifestyle. First off, lets talk about the mikan in the room.
Mikans are like oranges. Or clementines. Or something. I hear them referred to by all kinds of names, but I just know them as the citrus that dominates the countryside to which I first moved when I came to Japan. The people of the city import the mikans by the veritable basket-load for winter consumption as they are easy to get during this time. And then they give them to their eikaiwa teachers, or customers, or passing strangers. There are a lot of mikans coming into my house at any given time.
Besides the anthropomorphised mikan, there are some other wintry objects. For instance, we have his hat. I don't get the impression that many Japanese people wear hats in their cold rooms, but I certainly do. I get wrapped like a Bedouin each night.
Then there is the stove. These are filled with noxious gas and will probably kill you. So of course lots of people use them. The stove is often topped by a teapot to keep moisture in the air and teacups. Or in my case, laps.
The most important heating object in this picture is of course the kotatsu. Not pictured is the air conditioner. Where I come from, air conditioners only cooled air, but here they go both ways. Despite the fact that heat rises, air conditioners are always near the ceiling. The TV is important too; it distracts one from the bitter pain of the cold.
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