If I could bring one thing from my home country to Japan, it would be a fireplace. Of course, the hearth wouldn't make it through the security check these days. But still, to have an open fire blazing in the living room would be nice, not to mention warm.

But alas, this is Japan, where there is no central heating and no fireplaces. Thus, winter weather conditions take place inside the house as well as out. The recent cold snap has us all hunching over morning coffee, hunching over the newspaper, even hunching over the toilet. I've adopted a permanent hunching position that doesn't end until around April. It makes cleaning the floors much easier and straightening the shoes in the "genkan" easier , but I haven't seen anyone in a long time .

Part of hunching is due to the fact that after waking up in the morning , you never completely uncurl from the fetal position. If I could, I would go everywhere in the fetal position. This would require rolling, however, and I would need a special strap to cinch around my body to keep me together.