Thank you for watching! ”Why doesn't Japan have central heating?” is the most frequently asked question here so I made the video to answer the question th-cam.com/video/puzxeIvpgwg/w-d-xo.html
OH MY GOD! What you call Kotatsu in Japan, we call a KORSEE in Iran!! This is our main winter family tradition. All families set one up for the winter months! Amazing!
IT got down to 3 degrees a few nights ago. in my late 60s. I live alone in the USA. I sleep with a hat and heating pad at night during the winter. I have propane furnace but it is very expensive so I keep it set very low. I also use,a hot water bottle to keep my feet warm. And wool blankets. It works out pretty well. During the day I wear a hat and heavy sweater and a coat if needed. As long as,I'm moving around I stay quit warm. I also drink a lot of hot tea. I also have a large dog who sleeps with me. He is my personal heater.😊🐕
In West Virginia America wood cook stoves were the central heat in my grandparents farm house. The fire was regularly going on low and a pot of some kind was also regularly going in winter. Sometimes a long cooking stew. Sometimes a large kettle for hot water. Sometimes they'd even cook breakfast overnight by putting dried berries and muesli, oatmeal or corn meal in the kettle overnight. The added humidity to the house offset the fire and the dry mountain air. These days with old bones in winter the wife lives in Therma silk and microfleece, which is much lighter than the 3+ layers we wore growing up.
I remember reading the Little House on the Praire books. Laura Ingalls Wilder said her mother used to put their old flat iron on the wood stove to warm up, then wrap the iron in a cloth, and put it in the foot of her bed to warm Laura's feet in winter. The two sisters slept in the same bed to keep warm, too.
It's true. Here in Maine, my mother would tell us stories of my grandmother doing this for her as a child. She still had the old flat irons and heated them on our woodstove and wrapped them in towels to show us what it was like. It was warm! Now I'm almost my Grandmother's age when she passed.
I use a heated mattress pad, great invention! Also have the oil filled type portable heater, turn it on about 30 minutes before going to bed & keep the door closed.
There was an America rock band that chose to name themselves "The Three Dog Night". Apparently, nights in Alaska can get so cold, that on the coldest nights it is best to have three dogs sleeping with you.
@@midnightsun9559 who what where "australian" what are you talking about? Three Dog Night started in LOS ANGELES which, last I checked, is not located down under.
Not "THE", just "Three Dog Night". Why do people do that? Always throwing an extra THE in front of a band's name? Sometime it's part of the name and sometimes it isn't. The band "The The" was literally named because of that stupidity.
Yes, but we also have an insulated hollow-brick house with central heating and an additional tiled stove to boot 😂. The firewood will warm you three times: First time when you cut and chop it, second time when you stack and restack it and the third time when it burns. Besides, winters have become pretty tame here and we only have the occasional week or two from time to time where it remains below zero (Celsius).
In the UK we sit around drinking tea and watching TV in our dark, cild, wet winters. Our version of Kotatsu is a big hairy dog lying on your feet under the table waiting for someone to sneak him or her treats (which we all do whilst swearing blind we don't)..
I can see why you feel that way, i live in Ontario, Canada and we have warm summers and very cold winters, many people here grumble about the cold winters. The thing is i love winter, the snow is so beautiful and there is nothing nicer than a thick layer of fresh snow on a sunday morning when you can stay home and snuggle up and admire it through the window. Then take the kids outside to play in the afternoon, building a fort or snowman, having a snowball fight or throwing a ball and watching the dog dive into the snow for it. Then going inside afterwards and having hot chocolate and snuggling up together to watch a movie. We have a large window in our kitchen right beside our dining room table, we love to watch the snow come down while we have supper or do a puzzle or play cards, watching it snow in the moonlight is especially beautiful. Last year we had a mild winter, almost no snow until the end, mostly just rain and it was so disappointing, our winter this year has been more along the lines of what we’re used to, calling for 10-15 cm of snow tomorrow and i am so excited. 😊
In South Africa, our homes are built to be cool during summers as it get very hot here. Sadly we don't have any protection from the cold. My old childhood home on the farm was built with two rows of bricks with a layer of space in between. This buffer of space helps to seperate the cold outside air from the warmer inside. As an adult I wear a full tracksuit to bed with hot water bottle and 3 blankets to keep warm xD
We are on the Lesotho border and hardly coping with the cold, ugh. We had -14C the last winter and already dreading March when it gets cold. Nowadays wood is so scarce and expensive our coalstove is becoming an ornamemt. And you are so right, our homes where not built for the cold winters
@@Ayla_3.3 Wow. I wouldnt have guessed -14 in Lesotho. Lowest in central Portugal was around zero last winter, only during the night, never during the day.
@@FreeSpirit-FreeMusic-FreeLife Yikes, I should have mentioned the -14 is at night. And we are on the foothills, Lesotho mountain tops are way colder. At least we have warm sunny days, unlike Portugal I believe. Dont quite know which one is worse, the constant cold vs the bone wrenching dips brrr
In Spain we use what we call "Mesa Camilla" which is similar to your grandma's table. They were very typical in Spain in the past decades, mostly used in the old times when the houses had not heating. You could find 1or 2 in every house. Nowadays they are disappearing. Thank you for your content 😊
Yes, they are still popular in Mallorca, Spain. Most people use an electric heater now-a-days but my mother-in-law still makes the traditional 'Brasero' with almond husk coals.
When I lived in Spain, there were every winter many deaths by asphyxiation because the old fashioned radiators literally used up all the oxygen in the room. Our family changed to the much saver electric radiators.
When I studied in Alicante, none of the apartments had any heat. Winter nights were damp and cold. It was a rude awakening coming from the US where homes have heat, especially when you get up to use the bathroom in the early morning and the floor is literally stone cold.
We live in Colorado in the USA and have a small home above a restaurant that is open seven days a week from 11 to 11. They use a beautiful fire pit in the center of the restaurant that keeps our bathroom cozy in the Winter. Our flat is above the restaurant kitchens too making our utility bill low in the Winter. Our two Toshiba cooling units helps in the Summer time. We love our home and feel blessed to live in a beautiful Old World structure in a lovely historical neighborhood full of beauty and charm. Thank you for sharing your beautiful home and helpful tips for keeping warm. Sending gratitude from our sacred patch to all ❤
I’m up here in northern Canada on the west coast and winter is -40c for weeks on end. We all just pile into one room with blankets, cozy sleep wear and hot coco into a small-ish room. You’d be surprised how much heat a few bodies throw off. We have to throw open two windows open three times a day to keep the temp and humidity (and body odour) down.
@ Yes we do. But being in a room with multiple people and no ventilation tends to create ‘stuffy’ air. It doesn’t stink per se, but it’s not exactly a pleasant smell and indicates higher humidity, which is not something you want.
@@SpacemanTheo It is 8°C here in Netherlands but we get the upper wind layer directly from Greenland sometimes. I want to know how you people live there and if it would be possible to go to Northern Sweden in winter with similarish temperatures. My pro tip is don't use polyester just wool for your bed and socks. it's natural and not sweaty and sticky and glides easily. Every coat has to be rain and wind resistant we can have very chilly and wet weather where people are not advised to even leave their house. Where exactly in North Canada are you? Do you work from home ? I am very curious.
@ I’m just south of Yukon Territory, and I work as maintenance in a warehouse. No one around here in their right mind would wear polyester if they do hard labour during any time of the year. We get ‘cold snaps’ with Arctic winds and our high altitude and the temp will drop from an average of -25c to -40c in the matter of a day. Right now, it’s unusual warm, but come January and definitely in February we have to bundle up and be very thoughtful if we go out.
Great video, its helpful that you spelled out the items for everyone. I love watching videos from all over the world everyone can learn something from somewhere else :)
Im in the uk and i boil water in my kettle and fill up a hot water bottle which are made from natural rubber They are pretty much always sold with a fluffy cover now and you can wrap a blanket around you and hug the hot water bottle and you keep lovely and warm.
One in the bed at night is ACES! Put beneath your covers before climbing in... _Ahhh. The best_ welcome, and it lasts throughout the night. (Get a long one if possible!) Sometimes I just lay it near my feet. I also have one whose cover has loops, so you can drape it around your body hands-free. Those such loops can be sewn on (for anyone interested). Fantastic buys, very small investment, WORTH MANY times over. *HIGHLY recommend.*
I'm watching this from my kotatsu. I have currently no way to heat my house but the kotatsu is surprisingly good at keeping you warm. My indoor temp is 7 degrees Celcius lol
@Meyokko-q5u it's an old japanese tradition to heat your legs and it works wonders. I'm sure you can find kotatsu tables in the US too nowadays though they may be expensive. I'm from Sweden myself and we don't do the leg heating either there because our houses have central heating and are very insulated
Merciful heavens above, 7 degrees Celcius indoors! in a Sydney winter, 16 degrees Celcius indoors means you are poor and struggling to pay for enough power. I expect my indoor winter temp to be at 20 degrees Celcius and damn the expense; if the temp drops one degree lower, I'm dragging a blanket around with me.
@ In the future I intend to keep it 20-23 degrees but I have to renovate the house first so this winter I'm doing it old school Japanese style, but with modern space heaters instead of the kerosine because I have no way of getting the fuel
@@everythingisnand I grew up with a kerosine stove heater, (and also a kerosine fridge, stoves and lamps). Kerosine appliances aren't good for your health because of the toxic and smelly fumes they release(unless you build a flue for them). Also there is always a firerisk when you have a highly flammable fuel inside a house, and an open flame of any sort. There are definitely safer options. Good luck with staying warm!
Hey Canadian guy here. Awesome to see the heated table with blanket, I could see that being fun. But the best way to stay warm IMO is to go outside for atleast an hour of the day, gets the body used to the cold then move inside. The rest of the day you’ll be warm inside.
I wear layers, my house can be anywhere between 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit, I used to keep it much warmer for my senior dogs but they both passed last year, so now I just bundle up to save on electric costs. I have a blanket warmer, it is a warmer that goes between your flat sheet and your blankets, I get home and turn it on, it warms the entire bed and mattress, then I turn it off when I go to bed. I live alone so it helps keep me warm and warms my feet up. When the power goes out, literally every winter between January and April, has been out for up to 13 days at a time. I get my sub zero sleeping bag out and I have a propane heater. I had hoped to have a wood stove this winter, didn't make it but am striving for next. Edited to add: Fahrenheit
A wood stove really heats up a house. I have a 2,000sq foot house and live in Michigan. When the power goes out in the winter we use our old wood burning stove. The room it's in gets to like 80°. I can sleep comfortably in my bedroom on the 2nd floor on the other side of the house with a hoodie and my comforter. It's probably about 50° in there. Not ideal, but livable.
@@Magdalenasfearswe live in middle Arkansas USA. We only heat to 60 then turn off heat. When I wake up I will turn it on again until it gets to 60 and shut it off. Lowest I have seen it is about 45. Which is a little too cool. Rough on us old people! No back up in case electric fails. Which is worrisome.
@capitalb5889 I live in the PNW but I am at the end of the grid in my little area/neighborhood, so when the power goes out from a storm, the people on my road are the last to get power back on, here you can live 1 mile from the main street and be considered "rural". If you live "rural", you are last to get power back, which means no water either because everyone is on a well. I live in a very "mild" climate zone, the last 20 years the weather has changed so much! We have had ice storms where the ice is 3-4 inches thick, down to negative 15 degrees, 24 inches of snow overnight and another 19 inches of snow the next day, conversely, in the summer we have had 112 degrees and been evacuated for wild fires. All of these "rare events" as they USED to call them are becoming all too commonplace. The area I live in USED to have highs maximum mid 90's, maximum a foot of snow over the course of the whole winter....anything outside of that was a considered a rare event, then they became events, now it is just winter or summer doing it's thing.
I made sand bag foot warmers for my MIL. 1 or 2 minutes in microwave heats the sand nicely. I would put them in her bed at the foot area about 20 minutes before she went to bed. She fell asleep easier when her feet were warm.
I make hot socks, long socks filled with dry white rice, tied in knot at end. Microwave 2 minutes, and they last for years. You can add essential oil to the sock itself for wonderful scent aromas. We gave these as gifts for the holidays and my family loved them! I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and they help me so much!🌞🌻🌻🌻✨💛
@@SunshinesART I have terrible RA too, so I'll try this, thanks!!! 🥰 Do I need to know anything else, or put anything else in it, like a preservative or anything? Or just straight dried white rice, in a tied sock, with the essentials oils on the outside?
Fantastic idea, Carol! Since I don't have electricity or plumbing, I was loking for a way to keep my drinking water bottles from freezing. Hot sand in sand bags, enclosed within a box made of thick styrofoam panels, will do the trick. Will also incude some heated sand bags, on my bed, under my Reflectix duvet cover. AND, heated sand bags to keep my plants from freezing in the greenhouse, and keep my tiny home WARM. I can reheat the sand indefinitely with twigs lying around. I may not need to buy expensive firewood again. Thank you so very much! Oh, happy days!!!🥳
This is so interesting TY but it all looks like a fire hazard to me! I live in the uk I swear by 1) hot water bottles, 2) blankets 3) Fleece bedding 4)Jumpers
Electrically heated jackets are wonderful. I can drop the room temperature by a couple of degrees while wearing one of these jackets that is heated by a small lithium battery pack. In very cold nights I wear the jacket even in bed in my sleeping bag.
When I lived in Japan, I adored my kotatsu in the winter. I also bought an electric rug to heat my main room. These and warm comforters kept me comfy in the winter.
Kotatsu were quite popular in the PNW when I was in uni! A lot of older houses don't keep the heat in very well, so they made a very welcome warm spot to do homework. Electric blankets are also really popular underneath you in bed. If you sleep on them, though, they really make it hard to want to get out of bed in the cold morning 😂
Jestem z Polski, mieszkam w bloku wielorodzinnym w którym jest centralne ogrzewanie. Każdy blok w Polsce tak ma. Na dodatek ma ściany dobrze zaizolowane styropianem. W moim mieszkaniu w zimie jest 22 - 23 stopnie Celsjusza i to jest dla mnie odpowiednia temperatura. Na noc zakręcam wszystkie kaloryfery i uchylam okno bo lubię gdy w sypialni jest chłodno. Przy zakręconych kaloryferach i uchylonym oknie w mieszkaniu robi się 18 stopni. Nie wyobrażam sobie mieszkać bez centralnego ogrzewania. Takie dogrzewanie się termoforami, kocami czy kotsu nie jest wystarczające bo przecież w pomieszczeniu nadal jest zimno. Współczuję wszystkim którzy muszą marznąć w swoich mieszkaniach jesienią i zimą.
I'm from the US and my house has central heating like most American homes. I've got some space heaters that I bought when the system failed too. But my energy bills keep going up and up so I'm grateful for this video. I'm going to have to run my furnace colder this year. I can use all of these tricks to keep me warm.
Same I lived in a third story apartment where one winter I didn’t even turn on the furnace cause I got all the heat from the lower levels and all I needed was a space heater
My room is near the roof, so it s cold in the winter and hot in summer. I used an oil radiator for heating it up and an electric blanket in bed. But as the energy prices are so high now, I can t afford that anymore. In Austria they will raise the power supply system prices 30% in January, my energy prices were already raised 25% in October. In summer I take only cold showers, I don t switch on the light anymore in the evening and the bills still get higher and higher! They say it has to do with the war in the Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia...and the climatefriendly new energy sources like solar energy. Already thinking of leaving to a warmer country, but when you are old and not rich, that s not easy. We have winter for half a year, but not a sunny one..only grey and cloudy and dark and wet.😖
What I did was get the aluminum bubble wrap meant for keeping cold out and heat in and put this in my windows. That helped immensely to keep the cold out. For my bed, it is worth it to convert it to a loft "cave" bed where the top is a roof and the sides can take thicker curtains and take that aluminum bubble wrap. I don't wrap all around the bed, because you do want to get air flow in to keep the humidity right. Too high, will make you just as cold as too low will. Last year, my room was 58F. This year it is 64F. Huge difference with that bubble wrap. I got it off of amazon. Electric is expensive, so if you can save up for a Solar power system like Jackery or Bluetti, you can get more solar panels and charge them outside while you use the other battery to plug your heater into. However, people will steal, so that is one consideration.
@@robogal1 I don't know if you have the option but build a four poster bed. They are essentially a small room within a room that traps your body heat and keeps you warm. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive. It's essentially just 4 bits of lumber in a square and then 4 legs you attach to the bed. Imagine a table without a tabletop stood over your bed. Then you hang heavy curtains - or blankets from a thrift store around the perimeter and top and it will help you stay warm.
One of the ways we would stay warm is by hanging heavy blankets up to block off rooms. We'd gather close to the central part of the house where the kitchen was. Sometimes this meant we all slept in the same room. Plastic on windows went up in early October to prepare. We do the hot pot trick too for the steam.
As a Minnesota resident, I can tell you I know what freezing temperatures feel like all too well. It's currently -11°C outside. It can get colder than that here. I have seen -20°C before. I think the kotatzu is a good invention. However, since I don't sit on the floor much these days, it probably wouldn't get a lot of use here. We rely heavily on our central heating system and also on wool or down blankets and flannel pyjamas and sheets.
I like to use electric blankets and a small electric heater. But we also have a gas furnace in the home in the US. Thanks for your videos. I love Japanese culture.
I’d just crawl under the table for the winter 😂 I’m always cold even in summer, the only couple of days I didn’t use my blanket during the day in the rubbish summer we had was when it hit 30c 😂
I had to look up rubbish summer. That's a term that I never heard while watching TV shows made in England. Most people don't realize how cool the summers are in the higher latitudes and being an island country.
@ lol sorry, yeah I’m a Brit 😁 some summers are good, this one wasn’t unfortunately, not much sun and lots of rain. Our plants didn’t produce much either
@ ‘rubbish’ used meaning poor or not good is a pretty common word 😁 it wouldn’t be on something posh like Downton Abbey though and historically it wasn’t used the same during that time 😁 🇬🇧🌻 have a great day, midnight Sunday here so bedtime
I live in Sweden in a pretty well insulated multi-household building with double glazed windows and central heating (indoor temp of at least 20°C guaranteed) and I still wish I had a kotatsu... But I'm a weakling despite being born and bred here 😅 hot water bottles and wool blankets are my friends
In NY, it gets cold, too. We have central heat. The law says when temperatures get to 40 degrees (F) the landlord has to turn on the heating and keep you warm all winter long, or you call the city and complain. The landlord will get in trouble. There are exceptions, but it gets hot in my apartment 😂.
20 is very cold. 23 is a must. It's a bad builiding if you can't regulate the heat yourself. I have heard on Swedish radio, how cold you keep it. I have 3 glaze Windows here in Denmark.
In Spain we have braseros, which used to contain embers and are not electric. They are put under tables and over the table we put thick tablecloths. You sit to the table and it's amazing! My friend has one and we meet once a week to handsew around the table with the brasero.
Just found your channel and love the content! I'm in Florida 🌴🌺 luckily and only a few times a year get below 50° fahrenheit like this week. I am an older disabled woman on low income. I am fascinated by everything in Asian culture including martial arts, fantasy historical movies and tv series! I especially love the simplicity of life using ingenious practical ways of maintaining simple comforts on little money. I would definitely have issues with sleeping on the floor though. I wouldn't be able to get up or down and the surface too hard. I wish I grew up learning Asian healthy living and mindfulness with the constant connection with Nature. 😌✨🙏🌎✌️💚
The Japanese do not sleep directly on the floor. They have a thick foam tri-fold mattress on top of which they put a cotton futon. Then they put a sheet and on top of themselves they have a quilt with a cotton cover on it. It is very comfortable.
@@Signe-p3m Futons are wonderful, but still too low for most older and/or disabled people to get up from. Those who have slept on futon all their lives probably can get up from them more easily. Good exercise it is.
Afternoon from the U.K and OMG it's absolutely freezing when it's raining in the winter, everything seems damp, in January when it's really cold I have already blocked up the doors with home made long sausage 😂😂😂. All of the houses are old and flats too, it's always the walls colder, thanks for your post ❤
I like buying "reflectix" material it's like the foil bubble sun visor for your car shape it like a box line it with fabric put your feet in it under the cover it reflects your body heat back at you super warm or hot n electricity needed. You can cut a long piece to make a mat or bed roll out under the sheet simple cheap and effective Bushcraft campers often use them
I started using Reflectix inside my duvet cover last year. This year, thanks to the comment here from Carol, I will be including heated sand, in sand bags or pillow cases, under my duvet, to keep my water bottles from freezing, warming my plants in the green house, and whatever else I can think of. If heated hot enough, it can be used for cooking. Best part is, sand can be reheated indefinitely just using twigs. Thus, saving on expensive firewood. Farmers are using hot sand to keep their animals warm by lowering the barn's ceiling using Reflectix or heavy plastic. And also putting heated sand under their water bowls to keep it from freezing. No worries about fires from heat lamps, or toxic fumes...just hot sand with barriers around it to protect the animals from the heat.😃 One guy used hot sand, in cleaned 55 gallon drums, to heat his home. According to him, the heat lasted for weeks before having to reheat. That will definiteky work for my tiny home that has no electricity or plumbing. Didn't want to deal with frozen pipes or huge utility bills.
@@yesican2012 how do you heat sand in a 55 gallon drum? I also live in a small house so am always looking for inexpensive ways to keep warm, especially when the power goes out, which it does usually every winter between January and April, longest was 13 days without power.
@@moiaddy1 I researched sand batteries, and how homes were kept warm, before electricity, using heavy drapes. I have a wood burning stove in my 16'x28' shed-to-small home conversion. I only use half of that for living space. The rest is for storage. I ordered clear vinyl heavy duty tarps from myteeproducts. They come with gromets that I hang over nails/hooks to divide the shed. It keeps the heat in. The residual heat from the sun through the windows, and from the hot sand, keeps the other half warm enough where my stored water does not freeze. I looked for carpet remnants/area rugs for the floor and walls. Cuts down the drafts. Or, use Reflectix on the walls with fabric/bed sheets over it. Wasn't interested in painting the walls. If I want a different color, I merely change the fabrics. I take them down, or not, when winter is over. I'm in my mid 60s. Didn't grow up with wood burning stoves, so am still nervous about inside fires, chimney fires, creosote buildup, smoke, embers, etc. I live in a wooded area, so I use the abundance of dry twigs/limbs lying around to start a fire OUTSIDE. A fire pit, rocket stoves made from stainless steel cans, or outside kitchen/cooking area made of clay bricks to fire up the sticks under lidded stainless steel pots & pans if that is what you have. I asked the man I ordered the food grade steel drums from, to cut a 55 gallon steel drum lengthwise. You can sand blast it, or burn it outside, to remove the paint and whatever it contained. The other half remains outside to reheat the sand as needed. Since I already have bags of playground sand, I filled large pillow cases, from Goodwill, with sand to make a platform for the steel drum. Insulated the outside of the steel drum with rockwool insulation covered with...yep...Reflectix. Insulation prevents the heat from escaping too fast. If it keeps the small living space too hot, cover half of it. Use an eco fan on the exposed sand for air circulation. The sand should be hot enough to keep a pot of water hot, or to cook/bake with. I don't fry anything in the shed. I do that outside. Besides, I eat mainly soups during winter. Will be attaching a green house to the shed, heated by sand.
@@moiaddy1 I don't remember which video contained the comment of heating sand in 55 gallon steel drums. This was a few years back. He's been doing this for years. Heated the drum(s) of sand in his basement and piped the heat through his house. According to him, that firing lasted for weeks before he had to reheat. Saved himself a lot of firewood. It was an old farm house. So maybe he had a boiler in the basement? The setup was too complicated for me. I wanted simple. Besides, my phobia about woodburning INSIDE the house...😖 But, I am considering talking to a senior neighbor who heats his home with an outside boiler. I already have a hole in my wall for the wood stove, I can use that to pipe the heat from the sand in. Have the fire during the day where I can keep check on it. By nighttime, it will just be embers. So, during winter, heat the sand on my days off or on the weekend. During the work week(s), I return to a warm home with no worries about fires and no utility bills. Since I do not have electricity, I will be using Carol's suggestion of heated bags of sand with me under the blankets...if I need extra warmth. I use one of the smaller Jackery solar generator for light, and to charge my cell phone, rechargeable flashlights and lanterns, using USB, that I bought at Costco. Thanks to the Off Grid with Doug and Stacy channel, I drink my soleil water (Redmond seasalt in purified water) first thing in the morning. I eat one meal a day, my nutrient dense dinner, for breakfast. Fruits or nuts if I want a snack during the day. Drinking the soleil water keeps me satisfied. Thus, I do not need a lot of storage. I am in my declining years. I do not want to leave a pet behind when I die. I take care of the wildlife as best I can, and enjoy the antics of the critters. Not for many people, but it works for me.🙂
Really interesting, I love how mundane details of life are different in different places - like the solid plastic hot water bottle rather than our (UK) floppy latex ones! Yours is less likely to leak but ours is more comfortable to cuddle on a cold night.
Interesting! When my Mom was a young girl, she and her family would often sit together with a blanket / duvet covering them with hot coals under it (when it got very cold). This was in Pakistan (Peshawar).
I sleep in a tent set up in my bedroom with wool blankets. When I keep the heating off to save money, the heat from my body warms the confined space in the tent by 3 - 4 degrees C with the doors zipped closed.
In the UK, hot water bottles can serve the purpose of heating smaller spaces like your legs or feet. They're flattish rubber bottles that cost between 5 and 10 pound, and you just fill them with boiling water and put one in bed, or use one on your legs (wrap it in a towel or other cover first) to keep toasty if you're sat at a table or on a sofa.
In Kashmir, traditional heating practices are deeply rooted in the culture, with unique methods adapted to the region's harsh winters. One such traditional element is the *Hamam*, a heated room introduced from Central Asia, where firewood warms stone floors to create a cozy environment. Another iconic tradition is the *Kangri*, a portable wicker basket with an earthen pot inside, filled with hot embers. It is often tucked under the *Pheran* (a traditional cloak) to keep individuals warm. In modern times, these traditional methods are complemented by electric blankets, blowers, radiators, and hot water bottles, blending heritage with modern technology to combat the cold. This combination of old and new showcases the resilience and ingenuity of Kashmiri households.
In Spain, we use/used just the same methods but, instead lying on the floor, over chair/somier. Also, we tend nowadays to move away from water bags and use seeds bags, which you can heat directly in the microwave and, if it breaks (it's a cloth bag) it will not wet you and you can easily fix it (thread and needle).
When I was still living in Iowa (am Filipino-American) in a studio apartment, I had a kotatsu. I found one at a thrift store during the summer of 2017 and got it. It really came into good use later that year in winter when the heater in the apartment complex I lived at went out and my landlord had some trouble getting a repairman to the building to fix it. Sure I had a portable heater plugged in, but the kotatsu was much more comfy. Sadly, I no longer have it ever since I moved to the state of Arizona in late 2020. But I have a friend back in Iowa who took the kotatsu off my hand and she still uses it during the winter months.
Japanese houses are elegant and beautiful. In Saudi Arabia there is no severe cold but the weather changes quickly in the morning warm and the night is cold
Lovely homes and lifestyle. I rely on a closed wood stove for 50% of our heat. But, I would love to have a traditional Japanese style bath tub; short in length but tall. Can you show one in a video?
Your English is very good Nao. I live in a rural part of the US state of Michigan. We get very heavy snowfall where I live and temperatures can often get to -25C. We are surrounded by the largest freshwater lakes on Earth and get snowstorms probably not unlike those that come off of the Sea of Japan. We heat our home off a propane furnace that is fed by a large tank outside that holds around 2000liters of liquid propane at a time. We also have a wood burning stove and make use of electric heated blankets when we go to bed. A kotatsu looks like it would be very comfy to sit around drinking hot chocolate and watching a movie on a snowy day.
I am older than you and have lived on 3 continents but I love seeing, in any culture, respect and understanding of previous methods of cooking, household, travel et cetera. I have never seen your channel but will follow. You explain these methods very well.I have traveled to Japan numerous times and appreciate practical ways of dealing with life in general. As a British person growing up in India I also saw many eastern ways of dealing with climate et cetera. A natural way instead of a switch for air conditioning or an electric heater. I now now live on the west coast of the US. People are too spoiled to simply flick a switch and something magical happens.These time honoured ways are not only practical but lend to quiet contemplation. I look forward to seeing more on your channel!
Where I live in the USA we turn on the gas forced air furnace which keeps the house around 75°F/23.9°C. I usually walk around in shorts and a t-shirt in my home in the winter, even if its around 0°F/-17.8°C outside. The cold is only something I need to deal with if I go outside in the winter.
The way I handle the cold (minus 45 degrees including windchill, lately) is to go outside and shovel deep snow-paths (two feet deep) about four times a day. Lots of blizzards here. I also sleep in warm fleece pyjamas, and thick, woolen bedsocks. So far, so good. 🌨🌨❄❄🌨🌨🇨🇦🧦 I let the weather plan my day, and cook and bake on the coldest days.
I live in deep south texas, usa. It gets pretty chilly here some winters. Its to get down in the 30's in a few days. Since a lot of us probably most of us, dont have heat, i stay in bed with 8 blankets, wear a hat, 2 sweaters over my jammies, & ALL my cats on top of me. Once im in bed, i cant move...from the weight of the blankets & cats........but im warm!!!!!! 😂😂😂😂❤
Korean, where it is colder than Japan, stay warm due to the floor heating Ondol system all over the house ~ some houses bathrooms have Ondol too. Warm floors keep the feet toasty and the heat rises and so the whole house gets warm fast without being dried.
I would like to know what your quilts/blankets are made off, what your pillows are made of and your mattress'. Do the elderly have trouble with these kinds of mattresses? How long do they last? How do you clean them.?
We have central heating but I honestly don't like running it much because it makes the air gross and stuffy. We just wear sweatpants, use electric blankets and blankets.
Very interesting! In Germany we basically use exclusively central heating (with some exceptions) - a heater in the cellar (old versions use oil or gas, newer versions are mostly heat pumps or pellets) pumps hot water into radiators or floor heaters around the house…so that’s basically it 😁 Some people have an additional fireplace for fun and because of the nice heat, some use additional electric blankets or have a sauna in the house, but that’s mostly optional…
And we also have long-distance heating and short-distance heating. Or you can call it District heating. One Source (garbage incinerator, biogas plant, woodchips, heat pups and other heat sources) and a network of well isulated pipes to the houses and appartments.
In Poland, we have buildings specially prepared for winter. Insulation from the outside, special blocks retaining heat and removing moisture, double glazing filled with argon and central heating. In winter, it's 26 degrees C at home and I wear shorts all winter.
I am from the uk and we have different methods of heating, such as oil boilers or ground source heat pumps for houses where there is no gas, fires with back boilers with radiators attached which is common in old buildings, central heating to name a few, I use central heating but my house when I first moved in did not have central heating due to the age of the property, so I relied on portable electric heaters and a bathroom electric heater.
I wish it was minus 5 here today. Roasting in Qld, Australia at present. Your lovely home is so different... no clutter, no junk. Thanks for your tips. Stay warm.
I live in the US. Thank goodness my home is insulated well. My house is brick & will stay around 64 degrees F when it is in the 20's & 30's outside without turning on the furnace.
Yass! My Grandma is a nightmare when it comes to Christmas. She loves to open gifts and say, “Oh, didn’t you get me that last year?” I’m getting her one of those tables, I’ll finally beat her at her game! 😅
One thing that you didn't mention but I see that you sleep on a blanket on your mattress. I do the same thing. So essentially, you have a blanket underneath you as well as a blanket on top.
In iran they would use Korsi in old times, that was mostle the same as Kotatsu. Now most of the people have modern heaters with gas or electricity and that table became an iconic symbole of good old days 😊
In the Philippines, we know that it is starting to get cold in other countries because the wind turns cold at the start of -ber months ( starting September). This became a part of our culture. We celebrate Christmas at the start of September till the end of the year - the longest in the world.
I lived in my grandparents house (in the mountains) for a year and winter was so cold. They didn’t have central heating or cooling, but a pellet stove downstairs, a pellet stove in the living room, and a fireplace in the kitchen. Each room had an electric heater that I swear barely worked. I slept up against a window lol so maybe I wasn’t in the best position but this video reminded me of a life without central heating. I’m grateful for my 75° house 😊
Yes you are lucky. I wish I had that but the furnace guy wanted 10k to replace the old one, so now it's just heaters and the wood burning stove. We can usually get it to around 60 degrees.
Here in cold US I have numerous subzero sleeping bags I sleep in on the bed, under the covers, use another for a blanket around the house, wear warm slippers and wear thermals under my clothes.
Just watching you showing us all these things made me feel so warm ♥ I used a kotatsu only once. It was in Gifu and the weather was pretty bad. We went on a walk through Gujo Hachiman in the rain. Returning to the airbnb and sliding under the warm kotatsu felt so nice!
I have a special gas furnase which ehats up on the top so I can put a kettle on there to heat that up as well. I also have mint leaves growing on my patio so I put some of those in the pot of hot water as well to add a fregance to the air and it also makes a pretty good cup of tea when I need it.
Apparently, I grew up in a snowiest place on Earth, Aomori. We didn't have fancy modern heating solutions but we managed to keep us selves warm. Growing up, it event felt cozy, never cold. I remember pumping butane tanks to our heaters and huddled inside kotastu.
Thank you for watching! ”Why doesn't Japan have central heating?” is the most frequently asked question here so I made the video to answer the question
th-cam.com/video/puzxeIvpgwg/w-d-xo.html
Thankyou for the knowledge. However, I recommend that everyone stop using kerosene stoves/heaters. Burning kerosene causes cancer.
@@SimonAshworthWood A million things cause cancer!
Thank you. I am serious about getting a Japanese mattress I thought you well suited for a recommendation. ありがとうございます
OH MY GOD! What you call Kotatsu in Japan, we call a KORSEE in Iran!! This is our main winter family tradition. All families set one up for the winter months! Amazing!
@@SimonAshworthWood Don't be a wimp. According to whatever source you use, everything causes cancer. 🤣
In the UK we huddle around a single candle to keep warm and when it gets really cold, we light it.
😂😂😂😂
Ohhh GOSH! 😂😂😂
lol i get cold easy heater year round 3 heater and a heat pad/blanket on high
Love it
LOL I can confirm this as I spent a winter there and that candle did the trick.
I just got used to the cold because I'm Irish and I don't want to let the weather think it's winning.
@@tziirkq love it!!!!!
Same in Scotland. Sometimes we don’t even bother wearing coats just to show the weather who’s boss. 😅
Ireland rarely gets cold though, Japan gets regular -5°C to -10°C, even worse in the mountains
Am dead 💀
@@rubybuttons668doesn't matter if it's below zero. If it isn't raining, then it's taps aff weather.
IT got down to 3 degrees a few nights ago. in my late 60s. I live alone in the USA. I sleep with a hat and heating pad at night during the winter. I have propane furnace but it is very expensive so I keep it set very low. I also use,a hot water bottle to keep my feet warm. And wool blankets. It works out pretty well. During the day I wear a hat and heavy sweater and a coat if needed. As long as,I'm moving around I stay quit warm. I also drink a lot of hot tea. I also have a large dog who sleeps with me. He is my personal heater.😊🐕
❤❤❤
Dogs like sleeping together, it's natural for them, my last dog was a sniggler
Wood or pellet stove. Hire a chimney sweep before cold season if paranoid about chimney fires or proactive.
Dogos are the best for keeping your feet warm
Stay safe, Lovely Comment
Here in Wisconsin the snowmen knock on our doors to be let in.
😂😂
In West Virginia America wood cook stoves were the central heat in my grandparents farm house. The fire was regularly going on low and a pot of some kind was also regularly going in winter. Sometimes a long cooking stew. Sometimes a large kettle for hot water. Sometimes they'd even cook breakfast overnight by putting dried berries and muesli, oatmeal or corn meal in the kettle overnight. The added humidity to the house offset the fire and the dry mountain air.
These days with old bones in winter the wife lives in Therma silk and microfleece, which is much lighter than the 3+ layers we wore growing up.
I remember reading the Little House on the Praire books. Laura Ingalls Wilder said her mother used to put their old flat iron on the wood stove to warm up, then wrap the iron in a cloth, and put it in the foot of her bed to warm Laura's feet in winter. The two sisters slept in the same bed to keep warm, too.
I love her book, The Long Winter.
It's true. Here in Maine, my mother would tell us stories of my grandmother doing this for her as a child. She still had the old flat irons and heated them on our woodstove and wrapped them in towels to show us what it was like. It was warm! Now I'm almost my Grandmother's age when she passed.
I use a heated mattress pad, great invention! Also have the oil filled type portable heater, turn it on about 30 minutes before going to bed & keep the door closed.
Gayyyyyyyy😂😂😂😂
There was an America rock band that chose to name themselves "The Three Dog Night". Apparently, nights in Alaska can get so cold, that on the coldest nights it is best to have three dogs sleeping with you.
Australian band. They say that there as well.
Sleeping with dogs or other animals to keep warm has been a thing for thousands of years.
@@kellymoses8566yes, in medieval castles the animals were the primary comfort from the cold for the servants.
@@midnightsun9559 who what where "australian" what are you talking about? Three Dog Night started in LOS ANGELES which, last I checked, is not located down under.
Not "THE", just "Three Dog Night". Why do people do that? Always throwing an extra THE in front of a band's name? Sometime it's part of the name and sometimes it isn't. The band "The The" was literally named because of that stupidity.
In Germany we use down comforter with flannel sheets - that’s very warm and cozy
Hate flannel sheets, it moves your pyjamas all the time. You woke up with the legs over your knees 😅
@@enlilw-l2 you know with flannel I don't need a pyjama !!!
@@funkmixer7767 I see aha 😄
Yes, but we also have an insulated hollow-brick house with central heating and an additional tiled stove to boot 😂. The firewood will warm you three times: First time when you cut and chop it, second time when you stack and restack it and the third time when it burns. Besides, winters have become pretty tame here and we only have the occasional week or two from time to time where it remains below zero (Celsius).
We also use central heating!
I live in the US, but I'm grateful for a woid stove. Source of heat, and if the power goes out, I can still cook as well as stay warm.
In the UK we sit around drinking tea and watching TV in our dark, cild, wet winters. Our version of Kotatsu is a big hairy dog lying on your feet under the table waiting for someone to sneak him or her treats (which we all do whilst swearing blind we don't)..
I have a log burner and a cat- with at least 5 cups of tea a day, of course!
Very true ( for extreme conditions two Labrador's are advised )
Don’t forget hot water bottle.
My new one I had for a week popped! I’m not impressed.
@@clivebonehill3348Three dog night
I live in a tropical area with no winter at all, and I realize how blessed I am
Yeah but the tropics have other problems.
Indeed you are.
I can see why you feel that way, i live in Ontario, Canada and we have warm summers and very cold winters, many people here grumble about the cold winters. The thing is i love winter, the snow is so beautiful and there is nothing nicer than a thick layer of fresh snow on a sunday morning when you can stay home and snuggle up and admire it through the window. Then take the kids outside to play in the afternoon, building a fort or snowman, having a snowball fight or throwing a ball and watching the dog dive into the snow for it. Then going inside afterwards and having hot chocolate and snuggling up together to watch a movie. We have a large window in our kitchen right beside our dining room table, we love to watch the snow come down while we have supper or do a puzzle or play cards, watching it snow in the moonlight is especially beautiful.
Last year we had a mild winter, almost no snow until the end, mostly just rain and it was so disappointing, our winter this year has been more along the lines of what we’re used to, calling for 10-15 cm of snow tomorrow and i am so excited. 😊
So very blessed
Ikr! Experiencing snow would be nice as part of a short vacation, but I'd suffer if I had to deal with it on the daily
Great video. I have a heated electric blanket. I can carry it around the house and plug it in on the couch, in bed etc. changed my life!
Sounds like my sister. She calls it her "electric husband." She calls her heating pad her "electric boyfriend." She'll be 72 Friday.
@donotneed2250 love this. I shall also call it my electric husband. Happy birthday to her when it comes 🎉
@katcookwontcook8945 , she's currently drooling. I just took a batch of cheddar biscuits out and sent her a picture. I make them from scratch...
I like the heated mattress pad/cover :)
@@donotneed2250 she need to get "bamboo wife" for summer time.
In South Africa, our homes are built to be cool during summers as it get very hot here. Sadly we don't have any protection from the cold. My old childhood home on the farm was built with two rows of bricks with a layer of space in between. This buffer of space helps to seperate the cold outside air from the warmer inside.
As an adult I wear a full tracksuit to bed with hot water bottle and 3 blankets to keep warm xD
"I wear a full tracksuit to bed"
A cheeki breeki adidas tracksuit?
We are on the Lesotho border and hardly coping with the cold, ugh. We had -14C the last winter and already dreading March when it gets cold. Nowadays wood is so scarce and expensive our coalstove is becoming an ornamemt. And you are so right, our homes where not built for the cold winters
Interesting! 👍
@@Ayla_3.3 Wow. I wouldnt have guessed -14 in Lesotho. Lowest in central Portugal was around zero last winter, only during the night, never during the day.
@@FreeSpirit-FreeMusic-FreeLife Yikes, I should have mentioned the -14 is at night. And we are on the foothills, Lesotho mountain tops are way colder. At least we have warm sunny days, unlike Portugal I believe. Dont quite know which one is worse, the constant cold vs the bone wrenching dips brrr
In Spain we use what we call "Mesa Camilla" which is similar to your grandma's table. They were very typical in Spain in the past decades, mostly used in the old times when the houses had not heating. You could find 1or 2 in every house. Nowadays they are disappearing. Thank you for your content 😊
They aren't disappearing, they are an stament piece of Andalusian winters. You will find one in almost every household 💛🔥
Siguen igual de vigentes en los hogares españoles, sobre todo rurales!
Yes, they are still popular in Mallorca, Spain. Most people use an electric heater now-a-days but my mother-in-law still makes the traditional 'Brasero' with almond husk coals.
When I lived in Spain, there were every winter many deaths by asphyxiation because the old fashioned radiators literally used up all the oxygen in the room. Our family changed to the much saver electric radiators.
When I studied in Alicante, none of the apartments had any heat. Winter nights were damp and cold. It was a rude awakening coming from the US where homes have heat, especially when you get up to use the bathroom in the early morning and the floor is literally stone cold.
We live in Colorado in the USA and have a small home above a restaurant that is open seven days a week from 11 to 11. They use a beautiful fire pit in the center of the restaurant that keeps our bathroom cozy in the Winter. Our flat is above the restaurant kitchens too making our utility bill low in the Winter.
Our two Toshiba cooling units helps in the Summer time. We love our home and feel blessed to live in a beautiful Old World structure in a lovely historical neighborhood full of beauty and charm.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful home and helpful tips for keeping warm. Sending gratitude from our sacred patch to all ❤
That sounds pretty cool actually. Do you get free leftovers
Hey from another Coloradan living in the UK now
Me trying to figure out which restaurant 😂😂
Living in Colorado, mild winters here ... western slope
That sounds like heaven.
I’m up here in northern Canada on the west coast and winter is -40c for weeks on end. We all just pile into one room with blankets, cozy sleep wear and hot coco into a small-ish room. You’d be surprised how much heat a few bodies throw off. We have to throw open two windows open three times a day to keep the temp and humidity (and body odour) down.
Body odor? Do you not wash daily?
It's 20c here still and it's supposed to be winter, I have never seen this before
@ Yes we do. But being in a room with multiple people and no ventilation tends to create ‘stuffy’ air. It doesn’t stink per se, but it’s not exactly a pleasant smell and indicates higher humidity, which is not something you want.
@@SpacemanTheo It is 8°C here in Netherlands but we get the upper wind layer directly from Greenland sometimes. I want to know how you people live there and if it would be possible to go to Northern Sweden in winter with similarish temperatures. My pro tip is don't use polyester just wool for your bed and socks. it's natural and not sweaty and sticky and glides easily. Every coat has to be rain and wind resistant we can have very chilly and wet weather where people are not advised to even leave their house. Where exactly in North Canada are you? Do you work from home ? I am very curious.
@ I’m just south of Yukon Territory, and I work as maintenance in a warehouse. No one around here in their right mind would wear polyester if they do hard labour during any time of the year. We get ‘cold snaps’ with Arctic winds and our high altitude and the temp will drop from an average of -25c to -40c in the matter of a day. Right now, it’s unusual warm, but come January and definitely in February we have to bundle up and be very thoughtful if we go out.
Great video, its helpful that you spelled out the items for everyone. I love watching videos from all over the world everyone can learn something from somewhere else :)
Im in the uk and i boil water in my kettle and fill up a hot water bottle which are made from natural rubber They are pretty much always sold with a fluffy cover now and you can wrap a blanket around you and hug the hot water bottle and you keep lovely and warm.
One in the bed at night is ACES! Put beneath your covers before climbing in... _Ahhh. The best_ welcome, and it lasts throughout the night. (Get a long one if possible!) Sometimes I just lay it near my feet. I also have one whose cover has loops, so you can drape it around your body hands-free. Those such loops can be sewn on (for anyone interested). Fantastic buys, very small investment, WORTH MANY times over. *HIGHLY recommend.*
There are bottles 1 meter long now with y fluffy cover! I got one in my bed.wonderful!😊
In Germany it's called "Wärmflasche".
Same, though I am Swedish.
Check out 5:25
I'm watching this from my kotatsu. I have currently no way to heat my house but the kotatsu is surprisingly good at keeping you warm. My indoor temp is 7 degrees Celcius lol
I’m from American and I never heard of this way of heating your legs
@Meyokko-q5u it's an old japanese tradition to heat your legs and it works wonders. I'm sure you can find kotatsu tables in the US too nowadays though they may be expensive. I'm from Sweden myself and we don't do the leg heating either there because our houses have central heating and are very insulated
Merciful heavens above, 7 degrees Celcius indoors! in a Sydney winter, 16 degrees Celcius indoors means you are poor and struggling to pay for enough power. I expect my indoor winter temp to be at 20 degrees Celcius and damn the expense; if the temp drops one degree lower, I'm dragging a blanket around with me.
@ In the future I intend to keep it 20-23 degrees but I have to renovate the house first so this winter I'm doing it old school Japanese style, but with modern space heaters instead of the kerosine because I have no way of getting the fuel
@@everythingisnand I grew up with a kerosine stove heater, (and also a kerosine fridge, stoves and lamps). Kerosine appliances aren't good for your health because of the toxic and smelly fumes they release(unless you build a flue for them). Also there is always a firerisk when you have a highly flammable fuel inside a house, and an open flame of any sort. There are definitely safer options. Good luck with staying warm!
Hey Canadian guy here. Awesome to see the heated table with blanket, I could see that being fun. But the best way to stay warm IMO is to go outside for atleast an hour of the day, gets the body used to the cold then move inside. The rest of the day you’ll be warm inside.
Your house is so beautiful! Thank you for hosting us.
lol
Makes you realise how lucky we were growing up with central heating and a hearth in the living room.
Lucky? Grew up carrying firewood everyday. These guys don't have the wood resources to burn, had to do other ways. Good thing to look into.
But now we have kotatsu poverty. Was it worth it?
im gen z..wtf is a hearth?
@@bunniewood Fireplace.
I didn’t grow up with electricity and still have damage to my hands and feet. Most people on Earth do t have central heating.
I wear layers, my house can be anywhere between 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit, I used to keep it much warmer for my senior dogs but they both passed last year, so now I just bundle up to save on electric costs. I have a blanket warmer, it is a warmer that goes between your flat sheet and your blankets, I get home and turn it on, it warms the entire bed and mattress, then I turn it off when I go to bed. I live alone so it helps keep me warm and warms my feet up. When the power goes out, literally every winter between January and April, has been out for up to 13 days at a time. I get my sub zero sleeping bag out and I have a propane heater. I had hoped to have a wood stove this winter, didn't make it but am striving for next.
Edited to add: Fahrenheit
A wood stove really heats up a house. I have a 2,000sq foot house and live in Michigan. When the power goes out in the winter we use our old wood burning stove. The room it's in gets to like 80°. I can sleep comfortably in my bedroom on the 2nd floor on the other side of the house with a hoodie and my comforter. It's probably about 50° in there. Not ideal, but livable.
So sorry about your dogs 😢
Where do you live that you lose power for days at a time?
@@Magdalenasfearswe live in middle Arkansas USA. We only heat to 60 then turn off heat. When I wake up I will turn it on again until it gets to 60 and shut it off. Lowest I have seen it is about 45. Which is a little too cool. Rough on us old people! No back up in case electric fails. Which is worrisome.
@capitalb5889 I live in the PNW but I am at the end of the grid in my little area/neighborhood, so when the power goes out from a storm, the people on my road are the last to get power back on, here you can live 1 mile from the main street and be considered "rural". If you live "rural", you are last to get power back, which means no water either because everyone is on a well. I live in a very "mild" climate zone, the last 20 years the weather has changed so much! We have had ice storms where the ice is 3-4 inches thick, down to negative 15 degrees, 24 inches of snow overnight and another 19 inches of snow the next day, conversely, in the summer we have had 112 degrees and been evacuated for wild fires. All of these "rare events" as they USED to call them are becoming all too commonplace. The area I live in USED to have highs maximum mid 90's, maximum a foot of snow over the course of the whole winter....anything outside of that was a considered a rare event, then they became events, now it is just winter or summer doing it's thing.
I don't live in japan but when it is really cold I wear a stocking cap to bed also.
Same. I also used to live in a farm house and had a wood stove for heating.
While having chemo and no hair I wore a hat to bed to keep me warm.
I wear a knit neck warmer. Really works
Yep, kind of validates the old saying by American outdoorsmen “If your hands are cold, put on a hat.”
As a bald guy in the upper Midwest US, I do the same thing. For some reason, my dog likes to sit on anything knit, so I get a little extra head cover.
I made sand bag foot warmers for my MIL. 1 or 2 minutes in microwave heats the sand nicely. I would put them in her bed at the foot area about 20 minutes before she went to bed. She fell asleep easier when her feet were warm.
What a good idea!
I make hot socks, long socks filled with dry white rice, tied in knot at end. Microwave 2 minutes, and they last for years. You can add essential oil to the sock itself for wonderful scent aromas. We gave these as gifts for the holidays and my family loved them! I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and they help me so much!🌞🌻🌻🌻✨💛
@SunshinesART I used to make them with rice, but why waste the food? Sand is free.
@@SunshinesART I have terrible RA too, so I'll try this, thanks!!! 🥰 Do I need to know anything else, or put anything else in it, like a preservative or anything? Or just straight dried white rice, in a tied sock, with the essentials oils on the outside?
Fantastic idea, Carol!
Since I don't have electricity or plumbing, I was loking for a way to keep my drinking water bottles from freezing. Hot sand in sand bags, enclosed within a box made of thick styrofoam panels, will do the trick.
Will also incude some heated sand bags, on my bed, under my Reflectix duvet cover.
AND, heated sand bags to keep my plants from freezing in the greenhouse, and keep my tiny home WARM.
I can reheat the sand indefinitely with twigs lying around. I may not need to buy expensive firewood again.
Thank you so very much!
Oh, happy days!!!🥳
Easy. Put two chiba inus in the bed, one on each side for body warmth.
What is that?
@@majvlierop Shiba Inu is a breed of dog from Japan. A very nice breed of dog, I might add.
My nephew has one...she is a big GORGEOUS fluff ball!!😊❤
@@invincibel4007okay! Thank you. Ik had never heard of them before. Very curious what they look like 🙂
@@invincibel4007yes. I know the breed. I just didn't know what they are called😊 They look lovely!!
This is so interesting TY but it all looks like a fire hazard to me! I live in the uk I swear by 1) hot water bottles, 2) blankets 3) Fleece bedding 4)Jumpers
or central heating.
I live in the south of Brazil and do exactly the same to keep warm.
Same with me in UK I have not got central heating so the above applies to me I invest in wool jumpers too
Electrically heated jackets are wonderful. I can drop the room temperature by a couple of degrees while wearing one of these jackets that is heated by a small lithium battery pack. In very cold nights I wear the jacket even in bed in my sleeping bag.
Exactly what the Japanese do.
When I lived in Japan, I adored my kotatsu in the winter. I also bought an electric rug to heat my main room. These and warm comforters kept me comfy in the winter.
Kotatsu were quite popular in the PNW when I was in uni! A lot of older houses don't keep the heat in very well, so they made a very welcome warm spot to do homework. Electric blankets are also really popular underneath you in bed. If you sleep on them, though, they really make it hard to want to get out of bed in the cold morning 😂
Yeah! 😅
Just 20 W/hour... and it feels like heaven!!! 🤩
Greetings from the USA. I liked your video. Thank you.
I see you have soft fuzzy blanket instead of sheet to keep you warm.
Jestem z Polski, mieszkam w bloku wielorodzinnym w którym jest centralne ogrzewanie. Każdy blok w Polsce tak ma. Na dodatek ma ściany dobrze zaizolowane styropianem. W moim mieszkaniu w zimie jest 22 - 23 stopnie Celsjusza i to jest dla mnie odpowiednia temperatura. Na noc zakręcam wszystkie kaloryfery i uchylam okno bo lubię gdy w sypialni jest chłodno. Przy zakręconych kaloryferach i uchylonym oknie w mieszkaniu robi się 18 stopni. Nie wyobrażam sobie mieszkać bez centralnego ogrzewania. Takie dogrzewanie się termoforami, kocami czy kotsu nie jest wystarczające bo przecież w pomieszczeniu nadal jest zimno. Współczuję wszystkim którzy muszą marznąć w swoich mieszkaniach jesienią i zimą.
Im Scottish, when its cold, we run up and down the stairs a few times - simple 👍🏴
😂what do you do during the summer when it get hot.
Tacoma Washington state West coast U.S.A here.
I do the hot bath thing. A hot cup of coffee is nice too. Hot soup...YES!!😊
I'm from the US and my house has central heating like most American homes. I've got some space heaters that I bought when the system failed too. But my energy bills keep going up and up so I'm grateful for this video. I'm going to have to run my furnace colder this year. I can use all of these tricks to keep me warm.
Same I lived in a third story apartment where one winter I didn’t even turn on the furnace cause I got all the heat from the lower levels and all I needed was a space heater
Make sure you keep the temp at a minimum of 65 degrees--lower than that and the immune system suffers.
My room is near the roof, so it s cold in the winter and hot in summer. I used an oil radiator for heating it up and an electric blanket in bed. But as the energy prices are so high now, I can t afford that anymore. In Austria they will raise the power supply system prices 30% in January, my energy prices were already raised 25% in October. In summer I take only cold showers, I don t switch on the light anymore in the evening and the bills still get higher and higher! They say it has to do with the war in the Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia...and the climatefriendly new energy sources like solar energy. Already thinking of leaving to a warmer country, but when you are old and not rich, that s not easy. We have winter for half a year, but not a sunny one..only grey and cloudy and dark and wet.😖
What I did was get the aluminum bubble wrap meant for keeping cold out and heat in and put this in my windows. That helped immensely to keep the cold out. For my bed, it is worth it to convert it to a loft "cave" bed where the top is a roof and the sides can take thicker curtains and take that aluminum bubble wrap. I don't wrap all around the bed, because you do want to get air flow in to keep the humidity right. Too high, will make you just as cold as too low will. Last year, my room was 58F. This year it is 64F. Huge difference with that bubble wrap. I got it off of amazon.
Electric is expensive, so if you can save up for a Solar power system like Jackery or Bluetti, you can get more solar panels and charge them outside while you use the other battery to plug your heater into. However, people will steal, so that is one consideration.
@@robogal1 I don't know if you have the option but build a four poster bed. They are essentially a small room within a room that traps your body heat and keeps you warm. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive. It's essentially just 4 bits of lumber in a square and then 4 legs you attach to the bed. Imagine a table without a tabletop stood over your bed. Then you hang heavy curtains - or blankets from a thrift store around the perimeter and top and it will help you stay warm.
One of the ways we would stay warm is by hanging heavy blankets up to block off rooms. We'd gather close to the central part of the house where the kitchen was. Sometimes this meant we all slept in the same room. Plastic on windows went up in early October to prepare. We do the hot pot trick too for the steam.
We hang canvas curtains to section off the living room. This really helps keeping it warm. We also use the rubber hot water bottle.
As a Minnesota resident, I can tell you I know what freezing temperatures feel like all too well. It's currently -11°C outside. It can get colder than that here. I have seen -20°C before. I think the kotatzu is a good invention. However, since I don't sit on the floor much these days, it probably wouldn't get a lot of use here. We rely heavily on our central heating system and also on wool or down blankets and flannel pyjamas and sheets.
That was really interesting. Thank you so much. 😊
I like to use electric blankets and a small electric heater. But we also have a gas furnace in the home in the US. Thanks for your videos. I love Japanese culture.
I’d just crawl under the table for the winter 😂 I’m always cold even in summer, the only couple of days I didn’t use my blanket during the day in the rubbish summer we had was when it hit 30c 😂
I had to look up rubbish summer. That's a term that I never heard while watching TV shows made in England. Most people don't realize how cool the summers are in the higher latitudes and being an island country.
@ lol sorry, yeah I’m a Brit 😁 some summers are good, this one wasn’t unfortunately, not much sun and lots of rain. Our plants didn’t produce much either
@ ‘rubbish’ used meaning poor or not good is a pretty common word 😁 it wouldn’t be on something posh like Downton Abbey though and historically it wasn’t used the same during that time 😁 🇬🇧🌻 have a great day, midnight Sunday here so bedtime
Thinking about the temperature increasing every summer, it could be too early to use "rubbish summer"😉 Thank you for watching!
@ this year was really really rubbish and very low temperature even for the uk 😣
I live in Sweden in a pretty well insulated multi-household building with double glazed windows and central heating (indoor temp of at least 20°C guaranteed) and I still wish I had a kotatsu... But I'm a weakling despite being born and bred here 😅 hot water bottles and wool blankets are my friends
In NY, it gets cold, too. We have central heat. The law says when temperatures get to 40 degrees (F) the landlord has to turn on the heating and keep you warm all winter long, or you call the city and complain. The landlord will get in trouble. There are exceptions, but it gets hot in my apartment 😂.
I'm in the UK and I struggle to sleep sometimes if my bedroom is over 18° 😄
@@michaelqdlapYou keep the sleeping room cooler. I need 23 degrees in thd rest if the house.
20 is very cold. 23 is a must. It's a bad builiding if you can't regulate the heat yourself. I have heard on Swedish radio, how cold you keep it. I have 3 glaze Windows here in Denmark.
Japan, please, learn from Sweden!
This is VERY traditional for those reading. This is traditional as you get. Thank you for sharing Nao-san.
The UK is very similar some of us have developed the ability to hibernate in winter. We wear many layers of clothes all designed for winter.
In Spain we have braseros, which used to contain embers and are not electric. They are put under tables and over the table we put thick tablecloths. You sit to the table and it's amazing! My friend has one and we meet once a week to handsew around the table with the brasero.
Just found your channel and love the content! I'm in Florida 🌴🌺 luckily and only a few times a year get below 50° fahrenheit like this week. I am an older disabled woman on low income. I am fascinated by everything in Asian culture including martial arts, fantasy historical movies and tv series! I especially love the simplicity of life using ingenious practical ways of maintaining simple comforts on little money. I would definitely have issues with sleeping on the floor though. I wouldn't be able to get up or down and the surface too hard. I wish I grew up learning Asian healthy living and mindfulness with the constant connection with Nature. 😌✨🙏🌎✌️💚
The Japanese do not sleep directly on the floor. They have a thick foam tri-fold mattress on top of which they put a cotton futon. Then they put a sheet and on top of themselves they have a quilt with a cotton cover on it. It is very comfortable.
@@Signe-p3m Futons are wonderful, but still too low for most older and/or disabled people to get up from. Those who have slept on futon all their lives probably can get up from them more easily. Good exercise it is.
Afternoon from the U.K and OMG it's absolutely freezing when it's raining in the winter, everything seems damp, in January when it's really cold I have already blocked up the doors with home made long sausage 😂😂😂.
All of the houses are old and flats too, it's always the walls colder, thanks for your post ❤
I enjoyed learning about how you stay warm! 🙂
Thank you for watching😉 Stay warm😘
The kotatsu saved my sanity during my first winter in Japan. I think I might have lost my mind to the cold without it. I love it so much!
Nao, you surprised me with this information! Wow
I like buying "reflectix" material it's like the foil bubble sun visor for your car shape it like a box line it with fabric put your feet in it under the cover it reflects your body heat back at you super warm or hot n electricity needed. You can cut a long piece to make a mat or bed roll out under the sheet simple cheap and effective Bushcraft campers often use them
I started using Reflectix inside my duvet cover last year.
This year, thanks to the comment here from Carol, I will be including heated sand, in sand bags or pillow cases, under my duvet, to keep my water bottles from freezing, warming my plants in the green house, and whatever else I can think of. If heated hot enough, it can be used for cooking.
Best part is, sand can be reheated indefinitely just using twigs. Thus, saving on expensive firewood.
Farmers are using hot sand to keep their animals warm by lowering the barn's ceiling using Reflectix or heavy plastic. And also putting heated sand under their water bowls to keep it from freezing.
No worries about fires from heat lamps, or toxic fumes...just hot sand with barriers around it to protect the animals from the heat.😃
One guy used hot sand, in cleaned 55 gallon drums, to heat his home. According to him, the heat lasted for weeks before having to reheat.
That will definiteky work for my tiny home that has no electricity or plumbing. Didn't want to deal with frozen pipes or huge utility bills.
@@yesican2012 how do you heat sand in a 55 gallon drum? I also live in a small house so am always looking for inexpensive ways to keep warm, especially when the power goes out, which it does usually every winter between January and April, longest was 13 days without power.
@@moiaddy1
I researched sand batteries, and how homes were kept warm, before electricity, using heavy drapes.
I have a wood burning stove in my 16'x28' shed-to-small home conversion. I only use half of that for living space. The rest is for storage. I ordered clear vinyl heavy duty tarps from myteeproducts. They come with gromets that I hang over nails/hooks to divide the shed. It keeps the heat in. The residual heat from the sun through the windows, and from the hot sand, keeps the other half warm enough where my stored water does not freeze.
I looked for carpet remnants/area rugs for the floor and walls. Cuts down the drafts. Or, use Reflectix on the walls with fabric/bed sheets over it. Wasn't interested in painting the walls. If I want a different color, I merely change the fabrics. I take them down, or not, when winter is over.
I'm in my mid 60s. Didn't grow up with wood burning stoves, so am still nervous about inside fires, chimney fires, creosote buildup, smoke, embers, etc. I live in a wooded area, so I use the abundance of dry twigs/limbs lying around to start a fire OUTSIDE.
A fire pit, rocket stoves made from stainless steel cans, or outside kitchen/cooking area made of clay bricks to fire up the sticks under lidded stainless steel pots & pans if that is what you have.
I asked the man I ordered the food grade steel drums from, to cut a 55 gallon steel drum lengthwise. You can sand blast it, or burn it outside, to remove the paint and whatever it contained. The other half remains outside to reheat the sand as needed.
Since I already have bags of playground sand, I filled large pillow cases, from Goodwill, with sand to make a platform for the steel drum. Insulated the outside of the steel drum with rockwool insulation covered with...yep...Reflectix. Insulation prevents the heat from escaping too fast.
If it keeps the small living space too hot, cover half of it. Use an eco fan on the exposed sand for air circulation. The sand should be hot enough to keep a pot of water hot, or to cook/bake with. I don't fry anything in the shed. I do that outside. Besides, I eat mainly soups during winter.
Will be attaching a green house to the shed, heated by sand.
@@moiaddy1
I don't remember which video contained the comment of heating sand in 55 gallon steel drums. This was a few years back.
He's been doing this for years. Heated the drum(s) of sand in his basement and piped the heat through his house. According to him, that firing lasted for weeks before he had to reheat. Saved himself a lot of firewood.
It was an old farm house. So maybe he had a boiler in the basement? The setup was too complicated for me. I wanted simple. Besides, my phobia about woodburning INSIDE the house...😖
But, I am considering talking to a senior neighbor who heats his home with an outside boiler. I already have a hole in my wall for the wood stove, I can use that to pipe the heat from the sand in. Have the fire during the day where I can keep check on it. By nighttime, it will just be embers.
So, during winter, heat the sand on my days off or on the weekend. During the work week(s), I return to a warm home with no worries about fires and no utility bills.
Since I do not have electricity, I will be using Carol's suggestion of heated bags of sand with me under the blankets...if I need extra warmth.
I use one of the smaller Jackery solar generator for light, and to charge my cell phone, rechargeable flashlights and lanterns, using USB, that I bought at Costco.
Thanks to the Off Grid with Doug and Stacy channel, I drink my soleil water (Redmond seasalt in purified water) first thing in the morning. I eat one meal a day, my nutrient dense dinner, for breakfast. Fruits or nuts if I want a snack during the day. Drinking the soleil water keeps me satisfied. Thus, I do not need a lot of storage.
I am in my declining years. I do not want to leave a pet behind when I die. I take care of the wildlife as best I can, and enjoy the antics of the critters.
Not for many people, but it works for me.🙂
I made a reflective pillow for my elderly cat. She loves it!
Really interesting, I love how mundane details of life are different in different places - like the solid plastic hot water bottle rather than our (UK) floppy latex ones! Yours is less likely to leak but ours is more comfortable to cuddle on a cold night.
Interesting! When my Mom was a young girl, she and her family would often sit together with a blanket / duvet covering them with hot coals under it (when it got very cold). This was in Pakistan (Peshawar).
I love Japan 🇯🇵 and its respectful people and culture, such a beautiful place. Best regards, Chris from UK.
I sleep in a tent set up in my bedroom with wool blankets. When I keep the heating off to save money, the heat from my body warms the confined space in the tent by 3 - 4 degrees C with the doors zipped closed.
In the UK, hot water bottles can serve the purpose of heating smaller spaces like your legs or feet.
They're flattish rubber bottles that cost between 5 and 10 pound, and you just fill them with boiling water and put one in bed, or use one on your legs (wrap it in a towel or other cover first) to keep toasty if you're sat at a table or on a sofa.
He literally uses one in the video.
5:25
In Kashmir, traditional heating practices are deeply rooted in the culture, with unique methods adapted to the region's harsh winters. One such traditional element is the *Hamam*, a heated room introduced from Central Asia, where firewood warms stone floors to create a cozy environment.
Another iconic tradition is the *Kangri*, a portable wicker basket with an earthen pot inside, filled with hot embers. It is often tucked under the *Pheran* (a traditional cloak) to keep individuals warm.
In modern times, these traditional methods are complemented by electric blankets, blowers, radiators, and hot water bottles, blending heritage with modern technology to combat the cold. This combination of old and new showcases the resilience and ingenuity of Kashmiri households.
This was so popular in the past in Iran, but is still used in remote villages and towns.
A Kursi! I heard they are wonderful, and the family loves sitting around it, telling stories, drinking tea, in the cold winter!
I dated an Iranian man that told me about his family using this.
@KA-vr4uu Thank you for watching and sharing your ways too😊
I live in Missouri, USA. We heat home and our water with an outside wood stove. We keep it going from Northern till early April.
In Spain, we use/used just the same methods but, instead lying on the floor, over chair/somier. Also, we tend nowadays to move away from water bags and use seeds bags, which you can heat directly in the microwave and, if it breaks (it's a cloth bag) it will not wet you and you can easily fix it (thread and needle).
When I was still living in Iowa (am Filipino-American) in a studio apartment, I had a kotatsu. I found one at a thrift store during the summer of 2017 and got it. It really came into good use later that year in winter when the heater in the apartment complex I lived at went out and my landlord had some trouble getting a repairman to the building to fix it.
Sure I had a portable heater plugged in, but the kotatsu was much more comfy.
Sadly, I no longer have it ever since I moved to the state of Arizona in late 2020. But I have a friend back in Iowa who took the kotatsu off my hand and she still uses it during the winter months.
Japanese houses are elegant and beautiful. In Saudi Arabia there is no severe cold but the weather changes quickly in the morning warm and the night is cold
What a beautiful home you have!
Your bed looks so comfy, I love sleeping on the floor.
Lovely homes and lifestyle. I rely on a closed wood stove for 50% of our heat. But, I would love to have a traditional Japanese style bath tub; short in length but tall. Can you show one in a video?
Your English is very good Nao. I live in a rural part of the US state of Michigan. We get very heavy snowfall where I live and temperatures can often get to -25C. We are surrounded by the largest freshwater lakes on Earth and get snowstorms probably not unlike those that come off of the Sea of Japan. We heat our home off a propane furnace that is fed by a large tank outside that holds around 2000liters of liquid propane at a time. We also have a wood burning stove and make use of electric heated blankets when we go to bed. A kotatsu looks like it would be very comfy to sit around drinking hot chocolate and watching a movie on a snowy day.
Thank you for this video ❤
Thank you for your comment! We are going to upload the summer version at this weekend😉
@@JapanwithNao Wow. I'm waiting for that.
Hello from California, USA. Thank you for sharing!
I am older than you and have lived on 3 continents but I love seeing, in any culture, respect and understanding of previous methods of cooking, household, travel et cetera.
I have never seen your channel but will follow.
You explain these methods very well.I have traveled to Japan numerous times and appreciate practical ways of dealing with life in general.
As a British person growing up in India I also saw many eastern ways of dealing with climate et cetera.
A natural way instead of a switch for air conditioning or an electric heater.
I now now live on the west coast of the US. People are too spoiled to simply flick a switch and something magical happens.These time honoured ways are not only practical but lend to quiet contemplation.
I look forward to seeing more on your channel!
I appreciate the comment! I’ll keep making videos about Japan😊
Where I live in the USA we turn on the gas forced air furnace which keeps the house around 75°F/23.9°C. I usually walk around in shorts and a t-shirt in my home in the winter, even if its around 0°F/-17.8°C outside. The cold is only something I need to deal with if I go outside in the winter.
In Portugal when we want to warm up, we just go outside.
So much warmer than inside our terribly badly insulated houses.
There are a lot of good tips in here for off grid living.
The way I handle the cold (minus 45 degrees including windchill, lately) is to go outside and shovel deep snow-paths (two feet deep) about four times a day. Lots of blizzards here.
I also sleep in warm fleece pyjamas, and thick, woolen bedsocks.
So far, so good.
🌨🌨❄❄🌨🌨🇨🇦🧦
I let the weather plan my day, and cook and bake on the coldest days.
Nw Ohio. We used to have winter when we were kids. No accumulation this year, highs in the 50s at the end of december.
@@woodstream6137 No change in Canada. I dug snowcaves in the yard when I was a kid, and the snow is still deep enough every winter to do that. 🙂🇨🇦
Growing up with a Japanese neighbor and Neighbors who lived in Japan, The Kotatsu was my favorite. I should find one for myself now as an adult.
I live in deep south texas, usa. It gets pretty chilly here some winters. Its to get down in the 30's in a few days. Since a lot of us probably most of us, dont have heat, i stay in bed with 8 blankets, wear a hat, 2 sweaters over my jammies, & ALL my cats on top of me. Once im in bed, i cant move...from the weight of the blankets & cats........but im warm!!!!!! 😂😂😂😂❤
Korean, where it is colder than Japan, stay warm due to the floor heating Ondol system all over the house ~ some houses bathrooms have Ondol too. Warm floors keep the feet toasty and the heat rises and so the whole house gets warm fast without being dried.
I would like to know what your quilts/blankets are made off, what your pillows are made of and your mattress'. Do the elderly have trouble with these kinds of mattresses? How long do they last? How do you clean them.?
We have central heating but I honestly don't like running it much because it makes the air gross and stuffy. We just wear sweatpants, use electric blankets and blankets.
Very interesting! In Germany we basically use exclusively central heating (with some exceptions) - a heater in the cellar (old versions use oil or gas, newer versions are mostly heat pumps or pellets) pumps hot water into radiators or floor heaters around the house…so that’s basically it 😁 Some people have an additional fireplace for fun and because of the nice heat, some use additional electric blankets or have a sauna in the house, but that’s mostly optional…
And we also have long-distance heating and short-distance heating. Or you can call it District heating. One Source (garbage incinerator, biogas plant, woodchips, heat pups and other heat sources) and a network of well isulated pipes to the houses and appartments.
I have a heating device that sits on my feet and keeps them warm. It's called a chihuahua...😏
Very chic
does it need batteries ??
Chilli-huahua
Me too, but mine's called a cat.🐈
I think it's the other way around. You're keeping the chihuahua warm with your feet.
In Poland, we have buildings specially prepared for winter. Insulation from the outside, special blocks retaining heat and removing moisture, double glazing filled with argon and central heating. In winter, it's 26 degrees C at home and I wear shorts all winter.
I am from the uk and we have different methods of heating, such as oil boilers or ground source heat pumps for houses where there is no gas, fires with back boilers with radiators attached which is common in old buildings, central heating to name a few, I use central heating but my house when I first moved in did not have central heating due to the age of the property, so I relied on portable electric heaters and a bathroom electric heater.
I wish it was minus 5 here today. Roasting in Qld, Australia at present. Your lovely home is so different... no clutter, no junk. Thanks for your tips. Stay warm.
Your house looks like one from Japanese drama. Lovely
Thank you for your comment!
It’s an old house though 😆
I live in the US. Thank goodness my home is insulated well. My house is brick & will stay around 64 degrees F when it is in the 20's & 30's outside without turning on the furnace.
Very traditional and works fine. I like the heater the most,
🫰🏻♥️🫰🏻
I’m using electric blanket for my bed…and turning it off when I’m really sleepy…cause, if not it would be real sweaty 🥵.
Me too! Otherwise, we need to wash our blanket next day.haha
Always put a sheet over or under it to keep it cleaner 😁 I love my electric blankets
Seventh Heaven for 20 W/hour! 🤩
😂😂😂, it's true...
Wonderful invitation.
Very informativeative, thank. You.
I just looked, Amazon carries these tables…. How cool is that?
You need a Japan to US converter for most of them. The power output of US outlets is higher and can burn them out or cause a fire.
Yass! My Grandma is a nightmare when it comes to Christmas. She loves to open gifts and say, “Oh, didn’t you get me that last year?” I’m getting her one of those tables, I’ll finally beat her at her game! 😅
@bonnitaclaus2286 That's really comfortable😘 Thank you for watching!
One thing that you didn't mention but I see that you sleep on a blanket on your mattress. I do the same thing. So essentially, you have a blanket underneath you as well as a blanket on top.
I grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa, where Dave Lenox produced furnaces to heat the complete Midwest then the world. He has kept me warm for 75 years.
Thank you
In iran they would use Korsi in old times, that was mostle the same as Kotatsu. Now most of the people have modern heaters with gas or electricity and that table became an iconic symbole of good old days 😊
In the US, we huddle around a fireplace. When it gets really cold, we turn on the heater
In the Philippines, we know that it is starting to get cold in other countries because the wind turns cold at the start of -ber months ( starting September). This became a part of our culture. We celebrate Christmas at the start of September till the end of the year - the longest in the world.
Kokatsu ah?
It Too remind me of my own childhood in persia we do call it korsee
Great content
I lived in my grandparents house (in the mountains) for a year and winter was so cold. They didn’t have central heating or cooling, but a pellet stove downstairs, a pellet stove in the living room, and a fireplace in the kitchen. Each room had an electric heater that I swear barely worked. I slept up against a window lol so maybe I wasn’t in the best position but this video reminded me of a life without central heating. I’m grateful for my 75° house 😊
Yes you are lucky. I wish I had that but the furnace guy wanted 10k to replace the old one, so now it's just heaters and the wood burning stove. We can usually get it to around 60 degrees.
Here in cold US I have numerous subzero sleeping bags I sleep in on the bed, under the covers, use another for a blanket around the house, wear warm slippers and wear thermals under my clothes.
I am going to make my own Kotatsu - thanks for the ideas!
The Spanish also have their own form the kotatsu that you could check out.
@@capitalb5889 THANKS!!!!
Just watching you showing us all these things made me feel so warm ♥ I used a kotatsu only once. It was in Gifu and the weather was pretty bad. We went on a walk through Gujo Hachiman in the rain. Returning to the airbnb and sliding under the warm kotatsu felt so nice!
I have a special gas furnase which ehats up on the top so I can put a kettle on there to heat that up as well. I also have mint leaves growing on my patio so I put some of those in the pot of hot water as well to add a fregance to the air and it also makes a pretty good cup of tea when I need it.
Apparently, I grew up in a snowiest place on Earth, Aomori. We didn't have fancy modern heating solutions but we managed to keep us selves warm. Growing up, it event felt cozy, never cold. I remember pumping butane tanks to our heaters and huddled inside kotastu.