I remember an article by some westerner who wrote about his "culture shock" tales while living in Japan. One of them is the bizarre combination of the old and new world.
Japan has a reputation for being a "high tech" country. However centralized residential heating and air conditioning is a rarity. Oddly enough several of the author's friends (from Canada of all places) complained bitterly that Japan was a cold place to be during the winter.
But on the bright side at least they have electric toilet seat warmers.
