January came with snow. A lot of snow.
Usually, in our small town, somewhere in the south of Shikoku, we rarely experience heavy snow. We might have a day or two during the winter season in which small snowflakes fall down very peacefully, but they never stick to the ground.
The locals told me that this kind of weather happens every 10 years or so. I haven’t experienced snow since leaving Hokkaido 4 years ago so I do feel a bit nostalgic. It reminded me how peaceful and beautiful it looked.
However, since we were not used to this kind of weather, we didn’t have snow tires installed. I was a bit worried when my husband left for work as there were already several accidents earlier that morning. It was fine in the end though.
It kept snowing for 3 days straight. The house we had moved into is pretty old and traditional which means, it’s made of wood and isn’t very well insulated. It was freezing. I couldn’t sleep. Thankfully, my mother-in-law had sent us home with their spare fan heater when we visited them last New year’s. I was very happy to be under the warm futon by the fan heater. Unfortunately, that meant condensation. I had to make sure I wiped all the condensation from the windows otherwise, mold (my enemy) will grow.
I had always lived in a western-styled apartment since I came to Japan. It is my first time living in a traditional Japanese house with washitsu rooms. It was a big change for me, especially since we had to be careful with the kind of furniture we used or else the tatami mats would be ruined.
We had also switched from a bed to a futon. My mother-in-law gave us some futon to use as well. So my husband and I have separate single futon mattresses which we just pushed together to make a bigger futon. My husband was very happy since he had always felt squished in my semi-double western bed before. I also found myself able to sleep more peacefully. I am a very light sleeper so when my husband turns in his sleep, I always woke up. Now, both of us can move freely and at the same time we can cuddle while sleeping too if we wanted.
He also told me we should buy a new kakebuton since my comforter was extremely lacking. It was very thin and didn’t retain much heat. We shopped around and saw some which cost over 600,000 yen! I was so shocked. He had told me that his kakebuton that his mother had bought him cost over 200,000-something yen. I didn’t believe it at the time because who in their right mind would pay for that. He told me that he loves sleeping the most so he is willing to spend on it. Now that I think about it, he is also using a Tempur pillow which costs over 20,000 yen.
I didn’t want to spend that much money just for a blanket so I chose a reasonably priced (but fluffy) one from Nitori. It’s still expensive for me at 32,000 yen but compared to those prices, mine seemed very cheap. To be honest, I would have been happy with a 3000 yen kakebuton on Amazon but he insisted we get at least the Nitori one because as he always says, “Sleep is the most important thing”.
Anyway, I’m glad we got it coz now I feel so comfy warm under it while looking at the snow out my window.
sakura shades 