Idyllic isn't it? Don't forget to play the music to experience what they're trying to sell in its entirety (top right). I thought so too, thinking how lovely it would be to live in a place with tatami again, especially one with a porch and with the wraparound "roka"(hallway). I was all set up in my reverie when that annoying little white Muji bubble pulled me down to reality, because anybody who thinks that a fan is going to cut it in Japanese summers...is not me. I have stayed at a house (and a hostel, in retrospect I suspect that the converted storehouse I slept in was not a legal set-up, more on that in another post) without air-conditioning and I slept fitfully, unable to get comfortable in the heat. Both times I had showered the night before and needed to shower again as soon as I got (not woke) up. Going back to the picture, once I noticed the fan I started thinking about all these other things like, how would you be able to leave the sliding doors open? The mosquitoes would come in. and that wooley-cotton covered couch would become sweat-beaded and damp in the summer. 「季節によるそう住まい」？ Sounding less attractive now.
On a different, related note, a blog post I read earlier today about housing insulation in Japan. I really didn't sell that one well. It's more interesting than I made it out to be though, and if it isn't, it's brief at least.
