Last Post from Japan

I assume I'll keep posting about China and Japan for a while, but this is the last post I'll actually write from Asia. I'm staying tonight in a hotel close to Kyoto Station, because Kameoka, where I was living, is so far away. I'll miss the pretty house I lived in, which had several rooms floored with tatami mats, and a low table designed so that you could put your feet in a well beneath it that was heated beneath its floor of wooden slats. There was also a kind of blanket surrounding the table that kept the heat in, so that you could stay toasty warm while eating or otherwise using the table. That's the photo you see. This is a very Japanese room, with rice paper window shades (they slide back and forth), tatami mats on the floor, large closets for storing futon, and lovely wood. The only other objects in the room were a small cabinet for dishes and a TV. The group ate many meals around this table (protected with some plastic foamy sheets I found in the foodstore) although the boys will complain they were often banished to a large room with a carpeted floor. Yes, I was afraid spaghetti sauce and cranberry sauce would end up on the tatami, especially if they decided to wrestle a bit. Despite all the dinners eaten sitting on the floor, not one dish was broken and only crumbs ended up on the floor, even when 25 or so people came for Thanksgiving.