What falls through a sunken kotatsu

A pencil can vanish at a sunken kotatsu. One household kept finding them, along with erasers, under the slats where people rested their feet. Once a spoon turned up with its plastic handle melted by the heater below. That footwell is the reason to want a hori-gotatsu (掘りごたつ) in the first place. You sit on the tatami and let your feet drop as if you were in a chair. One family of eight replaced two low tables with a single sunken one. Sitting with their legs down was easier on the father’s and grandfather’s backs. In the warmer months the quilt came off and they kept eating at the same table. Dust and the odd tissue ended up where they put their feet. It’s worth looking at how you’d clean the footwell if this is going to be the everyday dinner table. In the home with the slats, the parent had to lift the grate to get the vacuum in. The heater still got in the way.