Apartment during the winter. It would be hard to survive without two essential items: my kotatsu and the kerosene heater.

Apartment during the winter. It would be hard to survive without two essential items: my kotatsu and the kerosene heater.

Plenty of food prepared and ready to be toppled into the nabe pot and made into soup!

Plenty of food prepared and ready to be toppled into the nabe pot and made into soup!

Visitors to Zao Eboshi Ski Resort skiing down one of the powdery slopes in Northern Honshu, Japan.

Visitors to Zao Eboshi Ski Resort skiing down one of the powdery slopes in Northern Honshu, Japan.

Osaka is known as “The Refrigerator of Japan”. These are a few of the dishes most loved and recognized by Japanese.