cheek-zai

(picture from Unico Website)

While I was in Hawaii, Satoshi sent me an email stating that we "had" to buy a dining room table....WT?

When we moved from Osaka to Tokyo, I got rid of our dining room table because I didn't think it would fit in our kitchen area.

Plus, the chairs that were with the dining table were made of cardboard that were covered with leather(?) and were starting to fall apart.

Anyway, since moving we had been using our kotatsu which is a low table that has a heater built into the base of the table.

In the winter, you sandwich a futon (comforter) between the table top and the base of the table.

While you eat or sit, your feet are toasty from the heater and the futon also keep your legs warm.

I really don't like the kotatsu because during the winter I've often found "someone" sleeping under the table with the heater on...ahem

On top of that if you spill something while eating, it is hard to clean the futon...

I thought it would be good using the kotatsu because if others come over, we would just need to take out another zabuton (cushion) or two.

Anyway, "someone" said he is too old to sit on the floor, which is why we "need" a dining table...

When I told him we'd need to get rid of the kotatsu, he didn't understand why...um, because we have nowhere to store the kotatsu...sigh

So I looked online for something with a bench that could be tucked under the table when we weren't eating.

The bench could seat several people if necessary and would cut down the amount of individual chairs we would need for a table...

Sunday, we went to several furniture stores and decided on this one by Unico (pictured above).

It's made of cheek-zai...WT? is a little larger in length than the kotatsu table we have and also has a little storage under the table as well as the benches.

I looked online and "cheek" is teak and "zai" is material...I hate katakana it doesn't even come close to sounding like teak...

Anyway, our table and benches will be delivered next week and they will also take away our kotatsu (for a fee), which is good because I'd hate to have to deal with discarding the kotatsu ourselves.

Hopefully this table will stop "someone" from moaning and groaning.