Baby It's Cold Outside, I've Got to Go...
Oh wait, there's nowhere to go when it's almost as cold inside as it is outside. You know it's bad when Sydney has to wear her favorite blanket like a scarf. How can this be, since it isn't ever cold enough to snow in Yokosuka, you ask?

Well, you're right. Winters here are fairly mild. In the fall, everyone kept warning us, "The winters are cold here." Yes, November got chilly, but we didn't think it was too bad. Then they said, "Oh, it really gets cold in December." Well, December, with highs in the 60's, lows in the 50's, didn't feel so bad either. (This is Farenheit of course.)

In December, the oldtimers maintained, "So far we've had unusually mild weather, but January is when you'll really feel the cold." Alas, January is here, and it's not the coldest weather we've ever experienced, although it is the coldest it's been here so far. Highs are generally around 48 or 50, but in the sun, our thermometer has read as high as 70. Lows have been down to the mid 3o's. (All of our Northeastern friends and family would usually be jealous if they hadn't had so many warm days themselves this winter!)

But inside our home is another story! We thought our Norfolk home was drafty. Even with all their technology, the Japanese do not heat their homes centrally nor do they insulate them. Now I know why Japanese people drink so much green tea. I kid you not, it has been 45 degrees inside our house when it was 40 degrees outside. How the pipes don't freeze, I'll never know.

In Japan, we have 3 choices for heat, all of which are designed to be used room-by-room.

• The easiest and most expensive choice is the electric heater/air conditioner unit. We are lucky to have 5, one for each main room, but most older homes have only 3. We use these for A/C, and occasionally use them for heat as well.


• The cheapest choice is to rent 2 kerosene heaters from the Navy base (free of charge), although you pay for the kerosene of course. This involves getting kerosene regularly from the base and dealing with the stink. We don't use these at all.


• The last choice is the heater we use the most--natural gas heaters. Older Japanese homes have a gas outlet in the wall of each room. You plug the heater into the gas outlet and push a button to instantly have heat blowing into the room. We have 2 of these heaters, which we got from our friends who moved on base. They work very well and we spend a lot of time in our adjoining living room and kitchen.
  

Don't worry, we also have 2 carbon monoxide detectors. But Japanese people usually turn the gas heaters off at night, even in the bedrooms. Since Sydney can't keep covers on, we turn on the electric heater for her. But we don't turn the heat on for ourselves usually. Who needs heat or even an old fashioned hot water bottle when you have a furry "gas heater" named Mitch at the foot of your bed for a good 30 minutes?

I just thank my lucky stars for heated toilet seats. Why hasn't this caught on in the U.S.? Even with central heat, I'm sure you (mostly the ladies, I imagine) can recall--all too recently--the shock of a cold toilet seat rudely jolting you into a state of morning irritablity. Not that I have time to meditate with a 14-month old, but I've come to appreciate how very "Zen" heated toilet seats are...in all seriousness, they are one of my favorite things about Japan!