heating

Hisashi Misawa displays his 'Germ Heat'.By Burritt Sabin
Heating everything at half the cost

Traveling northeast from Naka-Meguro (a Tokyo station) on the Hibiya Line you reach a sartorial watershed. The yonder side of Higashi Ginza the men in Burberry suits and women in Prada have vanished, and workers in overalls and seniors with small shopping carts fill the car. You have passed through the business and fashion centers and are moving into the Shitamachi, the eastern quarter, where Old Edo is said to survive. Indeed this low-lying district along the Sumida River is home to the sumo arena, the city’s liveliest festivals, public baths and cottage industries. In the last named labor the shokunin (the artisans) fashioned things with pride and stubborn persistence.