KEEPING WARM 
Family members as well as strangers 
share the bath at a country inn, 
soaking in the hot water after washing 
themselves outside the tub. Often 
a social occasion, the bath is a 
favored way to relax and get warm. 
John Launois. Black Star 
the Japanese heat their rice wine, sake, 
in all but the hot, summer season. In 
Japan, drinking liquor is a social activ- 
ity — pouring one’s own drink is consid- 
ered inappropriate. 
Meals also take on a more communal 
quality in the winter, creating more 
warmth in a room. A special category of 
dishes, called nabemono , or one-pot 
meals are prepared at the dining table. 
Into a pot of boiling broth, the hostess 
plunges various combinations of vegeta- 
bles, fish, chicken, and meat. When 
these are just barely cooked, each diner 
fishes out a portion and dips it into an 
individual bowl of sauce. Sukiyaki, an 
American favorite, is a nabemono dish. 
This type of cooking originated in the 
rural and the more northern areas of 
Japan where the open hearth was a 
common feature of domestic architec- 
ture. On a cold night, the heating ele- 
ment — originally the ro but now a gas 
burner or electric ring — and the sim- 
mering broth warm the people huddled 
around the table. Other hot foods pre- 
pared in winter include noodles served 
in steaming broth, and sweetened bean 
paste, thinned to the consistency of a 
thick soup and served with pieces of rice 
cake in it. 
The one place where the Japanese 
can feel totally surrounded by warmth, 
however, is the bath. It is the best way 
to relax before going to sleep, and a 
long soak in the near-scalding water 
warms the body for hours afterward. 
For the Japanese, who are more ori- 
ented toward the group than are West- 
erners, the bath is, more often than not, 
a social activity as well. The public bath 
provides an occasion for social relax- 
ation and gossip. In cities and small 
towns, there is always one, often two, 
within walking distance of most house- 
holds. Many Japanese who live in apart- 
ments or boardinghouses, such as stu- 
dents and unmarried men, do not have 
their own baths, while in some older 
houses the large tub must still be 
heated by building a wood fire under it. 
Even when a gas flame is used, prepar- 
ing the bath at home is time-consuming 
(as well as costly). At the public bath, 
on the other hand, for a modest fee 
there are unlimited quantities of hot 
water and, in Tokyo and Kyoto at least, 
sometimes whirlpool baths and saunas. 
Cold beer, milk, and soft drinks are 
available in the changing rooms, the 
television is tuned to the most popular 
melodramas or the evening’s baseball 
game, there is the opportunity to visit 
with one’s neighbors and friends, and 
someone else cleans up. 
An extension of the amenities offered 
by the public bath can be found at the 
numerous hot spring resorts scattered 
throughout Japan. Hot springs are more 
popular during the warmer seasons, but 
to spend New Year’s at a hot spring is 
one of the delights of winter travel in 
Japan. Guests spend hours in the pools, 
indoors and out, sipping cups of tea or 
sake while they soak. 
The Japanese have turned in recent 
years to methods of heating the environ- 
ment rather than warming individual 
bodies: they are beginning to install cen- 
tral heating in newly built apartment 
houses and even in single-family homes. 
Mainly because of the rising cost of fuel, 
however, this is still the exception rather 
than the rule. Ingrained attitudes to- 
ward enduring the cold and enjoying the 
natural beauties of the winter season, 
longstanding architectural customs, and 
the energy crisis all contribute to the 
retention in Japan of a traditional ap- 
proach to keeping warm. 
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