A bit chilly in Tokyo

Here is another topic that hits missionary's budgets: heating. I wrote a more detailed blog post about this some time ago, that you can find here.

For today I thought I'd show you what I did this morning, in my dressing gown, in our backyard. 

I'd just taken the second photo of the low outside temperature from inside when I discovered our kerosene heater downstairs (our main source of heat during the day) had run out of fuel. So I popped out the "back door" and filled up the metal tank from one of our two portable kerosene tanks using a simple hand-operated siphoning pump.

I'm glad we now do this out the back, previously we used to have to go out the front (practically onto the road) and squeeze down the side of the carport between bikes and the dusty car to where we stored the kerosene. Not something you do in your dressing gown and fluffy PJs at 8.15am on a school day!

We use kerosene rather than air conditioning or gas because it is the cheapest way to heat here. We do have three electric heaters upstairs (bathroom and boy-bedrooms), but they are only used for short periods when people are using those rooms. Kerosene is a common way that Japanese people heat their houses.

But yes, things are a bit chilly around here, a normal Tokyo winter. I've become aware that I could be storing most of the food from my fridge in the stairwell/entry way. The temperature there hasn't gone above 10C for a while. It's not as cold as many parts of Japan north of here (and up in the mountains), but as we've got poor insulation in our house (including a number of large windows) and no central heating, it's cold enough for me.

These days David and I are sleeping with our electric blanket on low and with beanies and two bankets and a thick doona (duvet/comforter/Continental quilt). I've also added a soft neck warmer in recent days to help with the muscle tightness I struggle with. My boys laugh.