Warm Yourself with a Japanese Kotatsu from J-List

J-List Starts Japanese Kotatsu Season Early!

At J-List, we love to find fun products that people around the world know and love because they see them in anime. One object that’s common in Japanese homes is a Kotatsu, a low table with a heater underneath that’s great for keeping warm in the colder months. Since you only heat the inside of the Kotatsu, rather than the entire house, they can be very economical, too.

Here’s how a Kotatsu works. It’s basically a low table with a heavy tabletop that can be lifted off. Inside the bottom part is a heater with a switch and electric cord that you plug into a wall. When it gets cold, you put a square thick blanket (called a futon) in between the bottom and to halves of the Kotatsu. Turn it on, and suddenly you’ve got a great warm space inside a thick blanket that’s toasty and warm if you put your legs inside. (Most Japanese will also heat the room they’re currently using with some kind of space heater, too.)

These unique heater tables are seen in many anime series, for example Hyouka, Kobayashi-san’s Dragon Maid and Lucky Star. Also Nichijou:

The Kotatsu heater table J-List sells is a nice one with a good modern design and reversible top (white and one side and black not he other), to go well with whatever your interior decor is. It’s small, recommended for one or two people, and is quite inexpensive, though you need to add in the extra cost of the futon blanket piece. The heater is electric, using a kind of IR heating that is safe. The heater gets hot, but the metal is coated with a soft material to keep you from burning yourself if you should touch it. You can adjust the temperate using a knob on the heater.

The unit will be shipped to you via EMS. The good thing in about EMS is, it will arrive at your home in a few days, with full tracking the whole way. The downside is high cost, with shipping being more expensive than the Kotatsu heater table itself. We know this cost is high and apologize for it…actually it’s amazing that the Japanese post office can accommodate such a large and heavy piece parcel at all. There’s no other way to send the these due to the large size and weight.

So, are you ready to order your own Japanese kotatsu heater table? We have them in stock now!