Category Archives: Appliances

Magnesium Light – A Clean, Green Lightsource

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IMG_1231Have you ever heard of an Mg Battery? Magnesium is a common element, in fact it’s even the 8th most common element.  When made into small particles, it burns with a bright light, is very light, and is easily recycled.

Magnesium can also be obtained from seawater.  Recently, the Okinawa Deep Sea Water Research Institute completed the creation of an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion power plant.  That plant uses mineral-rich cold water from deep in the ocean to drive an energy producing turbine.  The out-flow of that process is large quantities of mineral rich water.

The VID corporation, a company who’s stated purpose is to promote clean energy solutions, recently built a factory on Kume Island to turn the magnesium in the water into clean light sources for emergencies and places without electricity.

The lights they are producing are small black squares with an emitter on the top.  When placed in regular water they produce light.  While the small boxes wear out, the company can produce them relatively cheaply and the materials can be recycled.  These lights look to be a positive step into the future of clean energy.

Imagine the aftermath of earthquakes or during the hours of typhoon with no power.  A cheap clean energy source can be placed in a tray of water and provide light for an entire room.  Places throughout the world without power, can utilize these lights to brighten their future, without the negative impacts of dangerous lithium or other battery sources that only pollute.

What would you do with an Mg Light?

Ovens

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OvenJust as stoves are different in Japan, compared to those in America, so too are ovens.  Many of the reasons are the same, but Japan’s history plays its role here too.  Japanese ovens are usually small electric affairs rather than built-in behemoths.  As with many Japanese appliances, ovens are packed with features.  Mine steams, microwaves, grills, and has several oven settings all in one compact box.  The size fits with the smaller kitchens and lack of space in some Japanese houses.  Since space is at a premium, electronics companies have innovated to bring what would likely be several devices in an American kitchen into one device for Japan.

Japanese Food

Aside from space requirements, why can most Japanese people get away with a smaller oven, if they even have one at all?  It’s because Japanese cooking is so different from that of the west.  Japanese food requires far less baking than we see in western cooking. As an island nation, Japan has always had limited space.  Its mountainous terrain further limited areas suitable for agriculture.  Conversely, much of Japan has ample rainfall making it easier to irrigate fields for water hungry plants.  As it has done throughout history, Japan learned of rice cultivation from China, and then adopted it for itself.  Rice cultivation turned the Japanese from nomads to village dwellers, and eventually into an Empire.  Rice became such a stable of the Japanese diet that for much of the history of Japan it was currency, wages, and life.

Rice required no stone ovens, simply an open flame and a pot.  Other grains were grown, but they were mostly for animals and the poor.   When not eaten mixed with rice, they became noodles or at most were fried as tempura.  Nearly all Japanese cooking could be made over the simple fires available.  Though much has changed, Japanese food still retains its ancient characteristics, and its dependence on rice.  While it is hard to define a cuisine, its hard to think of a proper Japanese meal without a bowl of rice, or at least noodle. So if the majority of food that is cooked in Japanese kitchens still does not require an oven, why would even the affluent give over such a large portion of their limited kitchen space and budget to a contraption they might only use occasionally?  They wouldn’t, and they don’t.

Rice Cookers

RicecookerWhere Ovens are the center of an American kitchen, with ever newer features such as convection cooking and self-cleaning settings, Japanese companies are ever striving to differentiate their rice cookers with features and quality.  If you go into a Japanese store, often one whole area will be devoted to just rice cookers.  They range in size, price, and features but they all make great rice.  They can even be used to bake cakes and other foods since they are essentially small pressurized ovens, with a single removable pan .  In some ways they can even cook better than ovens since they are designed to heat evenly over the entire metal insert.

Portable, relatively automatic, and essential to cooking the main ingredient in many Japanese dishes, the Rice cooker is probably one of the top three most common Japanese appliances.

A Few More Things Japanese

Just because rice is so ‘Japanese’ doesn’t mean other western foods aren’t consumed in copious amounts in Japan.  Instead of making bread or cookies at home, Japanese people are more likely to simply buy them, or find a more Japanese way of cooking them.  Also, portions tend to be smaller, as do families, so smaller Japanese ovens still get the job done.

Another hold over from historic Japan still shows through to today.  Without refrigerators, and with much of Japan being hot and humid, food would not last long.  Shopping was done almost daily for the food that would be consumed that day (or it was taken from the garden) so less was cooked and there were fewer leftovers to be reheated.  This tradition still carries on today, where Japanese shoppers are more likely to shop for less more often, have smaller refrigerators (again space is limited) and thus cook less than their American counterparts.

Japanese culture, and the way kitchens are used also have their roles to play in what and how food is made.  The difference in cultures lead to unique requirements and features that reflect the way we live.

Stoves and How we Power Them

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This is a continuation of the exploration of Japanese Culture by examining the major appliances we use every day.

Stoves

If you’ve ever been in a Japanese kitchen, one of the most obvious differences you’ll find is the stove.  In just about every American house I’ve seen, the ranges are large with at least four burners.  Electric is probably dominate, but there are areas where gas is used instead.  Nowadays they are often more likely to be flat panel warmers rather than the old electric coils that used to predominate.

Japanese stoves are almost always gas.  They come in very specific sizes to match the small kitchen spaces available in the majority of apartment/building kitchens.  In the one’s I’ve seen, even the more expensive versions usually have only two burners.  Under the center of the burners there is usually a drawer style broiler.

Gas vs. Electric

In America cities are large, with even more wide open spaces between major cities.  The cost of laying and maintaining gas lines is more prohibitive despite the low costs of natural gas.  In the past, natural gas was also more expensive compared to other energy costs.  More than that, natural gas could be conceived of as more dangerous since early gas leaks and explosions were highly publicized.  Fixed lines were also limited to areas of low seismic activity.

For Japan, though natural gas is cheaper than electricity that relies on foreign imports of fuel, or expensive technologies such as nuclear reactors.  Although Japan is seismically active Japanese companies got around the need to build expensive and potentially dangerous infrastructure by equipping individual buildings with tanks that could be easily refilled where lines are not practical.  Since Japan is an island and many buildings are closer together, there is also less cost and danger when physical lines are possible.

So then, Japan’s urban planning helps dictate how people cook and eat. Since buildings are smaller and taller, kitchens are smaller too.  Stoves are gas since natural gas is cheaper than electricity and widely available in Japan.  Tied to the stove are several other appliances we will look at later.  Some Japanese appliances have developed because of the limited space on the burners, while others perhaps keep the demand for more space down. The distinction may seem trivial, but Japanese cooking and diet plays a major role in deciding what tools are found in the kitchen.  Since humans are tool users, by understanding how we get things done, we can also understand why.

More to come next week.

Culture in the Things we Buy

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Long ago Japan was known in the West as China was known until only a few years ago, as makers of cheap products that would quickly break.  After years of its manufacturing sector suffering under the stereotype, Japanese industries invested in quality control procedures and reasearch and eventually won a new image as creators of quality precision and heavy industrial items.  Toyota went from a foreign brand few Americans would buy to the leader in hybrid technology.

This image is still alive today, though the world has and is changing.  Many Americans expect Japanese households to have the same appliances, features, and functions that found in the west.  While its true that there are still equitable levels of technology for the various income levels throughout society, several Japanese customs keep Japanese appliances unique.

So why should you care about what differences in appliances between Japan and the west? The answer is that those differences offer insights into the culture, and might help you understand Japan a little better, especially if you’re going to live there.

What’s the same?

My experience is based on teacher housing which would likely equate to a middle-income family back in the States. So far the only items I’ve found that are truly similar are microwaves and toaster ovens.  This means that the vast majority of items found in Japanese homes are quite different from their Western counterparts.

Japanese Houses

In order to understand why appliances are different, its helpful to understand Japanese houses.  While things have certainly changed, like many aspects of Japan, the uniqueness can be traced back centuries.

Uezu Historical HouseJapanese houses are traditionally rather drafty. Long ago fire, floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters meant houses needed to be cheaply made so they could be replaced easily.  High levels of humidity also meant that iron nails were a poor option for building.  Many Japanese houses were constructed in a way that enabled them to be completely disassembled, or quickly rebuilt.  Instead of nails, interlocking joints (like puzzle pieces) joined various beams together, and roofs were straw that could be easily replaced.  What’s more, since it rains so often in Japan, flooding was always an issue, so floors were built raised.  This also allowed air to circulate under the floor boards, helping air move.

Japanese houses were built so that whole walls could be removed to catch faint breezes in the summer.  This also helped reduce the chance of mold growing in the humid climates. By changing and adjusting sliding doors, the temperature of the house could be easily regulated.  Since houses were built cheaply and quickly there was rarely any insulation or double walls, making the houses drafty, even in winter.

Today most houses are made of concrete to protect against earthquakes and worse, but they still have.  Since space is limited, many people live in mansions, like apartments in the States.  Yet even though building materials have changed, some aspects of Japanese design have remained.  There are still raised floors that often have vents outside.  Many also have large windows or sliding glass doors where possible that can be opened to catch breezes.  This and other aspects of modern Japanese housing, aspects that have their roots in the farming villages of years past, drive the unique aspects of Japan’s consumer society…

Air Conditioners

One of the biggest differences in appliances, especially for those from warmer climates, is the lack of central air.  In Japan, air conditioners are two separate unites connected by hoses.  Half the setup is a boxy fan that sits outside, and the second half is an internal unit about three feet wide that is placed somewhere near the ceiling of a room inside.  Though they vary in efficiency, they generally do a very good job cooling one standard tatami room, and a very poor job on any further rooms.  For a Japanese apartment, or even house, its common to have only one air cooler to three rooms or so.

Why not cool the entire house?  Power in Japan in expensive.  Since Japan is an island nation with few resources, oil and coal have to be imported.  Nuclear power has long been unpopular and its future is still in doubt after Fukushima.  Even in the southern prefectures, like Okinawa, many people can’t afford to keep even the smaller Japanese units running as much as they would like.  The reasons go deeper though.

Think back to the history of Japanese houses.  They are not sealed the way Western houses are against the elements.  Trying to keep an entire house at a constant temperature would be wasteful, expensive, and highly inefficient.  Central air is just as wasteful in the West of course… though since houses are generally larger, it would likely be more of an initial investment to equip each room with its own cooling unit.

So what does the differences in design say about Japan?  I venture to suggest it says that on the whole, Japan is more worried about efficiency and the cost of waste.  That many Japanese are more likely to adapt to the seasons by opening their windows, relying on technology only when temperatures rise beyond livable.

This is the first in a series of posts in which I will explore what Japanese appliances have to offer us about Japan’s culture and history.