A recent visit to a large supermarket had once again made me realize just how difficult a time of year we are in. Although the festive season was far from over, I couldn't find much of the colorful splendor that you could see in many other stores. Here in this shop, the focus was clearly on winter, which can sometimes be quite unpleasant in these latitudes.

Winter here means cold and wet, and damp cold is nothing to joke about. To combat this problem and to survive this time of year, you can buy a kotatsu, a heated table with a thick blanket underneath to prevent the heat from escaping.

This type of heating sounds a little archaic, but is still popular in the 21st century in Japan. The actual heater is mounted under the table and the blanket is clamped between the frame and the table top. Sometimes heat from other ovens is also fed through hoses under the kotatsu blanket, under which people then stretch their legs and try to keep warm.

The product display clearly shows how such a kotatsu is used, and there really are Japanese people who lie with their entire body under the blanket. Sometimes it can get a bit cramped under the table, especially when the whole family has gathered around the kotatsu.

The inhabitants of the houses shown here are also quite thickly snuggled up, although in many houses this really might be the case. It is often very cold inside the buildings too, although there are of course other ways to heat your rooms.

Above all, kotatsu score with a certain coziness and originality, but also tempt you to be quite lazy or sluggish. Once you're under the covers, you don't want to get out again so quickly. And if you need something that is not within arm's reach, you often give up rather than peel yourself out of your warm comfort People rather remain inert and accept their own fate.

Well, we don't have any kotatsu at home ourselves, which is probably a good thing. Although sometimes I could well imagine a nap under a heated blanket. To be honest, right now would be one of those moments. But it's probably better that I keep moving and do a few of the many things I have to do this year. I'll get some rest later....