I just came across this song, and it felt uncomfortably accurate, like the singer had read my mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv6shy_9KVM I hope you got a chuckle at that. A quick culture note for context: Most Japanese houses aren’t heated the way American houses are. There’s no central system warming every room. Instead, heating is usually room-by-room, if that room even has a heater at all. Space heaters are still common and may even be more common depending on the area. In either case, the heating system is rarely left on overnight. Which means mornings are cold. Really cold. Bitter bitter cold! That’s where the futon comes in. A good futon traps air incredibly well. Even when the room temperature drops below freezing, you’re warm and comfortable once you’re tucked in. Inside the futon, everything is fine. Outside it? A harsh, unforgiving winter world. And therein lies the problem. Getting out of the futon means instant exposure. The body rebels. The mind negotiates. *Five more minutes* becomes a philosophy. You think you have it hard in the West, not wanting to get out of bed into your comfortably heated 72-degree Fahrenheit room (that’s 22℃ to more sensible folk). Oh please. You know nothing of the struggle! It’s still better than it used to be. When I first came to Japan, kerosene heaters were everywhere, and the kerosene was stored outside. That meant someone (usually the father) had to wake up in a freezing house, go out into even colder air, and haul fuel back inside just to get the heat started. Yicks! Electric heaters may not have the same brute force, but they warm up fast, and best of all they can be switched on from inside the futon. Civilization advances in small but meaningful ways. ![][divider] Anyway, enjoy the song. And if you know the feeling, you know the feeling. [divider]: http://laspina.org/images/misc/hive_divider.png

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David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky.

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