golyplot wrote:Also, I watched ep7 of K-On! tonight. I was surprised to see that Yui has a kotatsu at home. I didn't realize that they were still in common use - I thought they were a historical thing, but per Wikipedia, apparently they're still common in Japan today. Also, I found the Christmas spread amusing - onigiri, sandwiches, turkey, and a "traditional" strawberry sponge cake. It's such an eclectic mixture of Japanese and Western fare. I can't imagine sandwiches ever being served next to roast turkey in the west, let alone onigiri and turkey. Also, they appear to have champagne as well, though that's probably more a matter of different drinking ages.
Kotatsu are a staple of winter episodes of anime as a symbol of domestic cosiness and comfort, and they are still very much a thing, mostly because central heating isn't. As for the drinking age in Japan, it's actually 20, so beyond the age range typical for high school, and Japanese TV networks are generally extremely reluctant to show minors smoking or drinking (the most you'll get is accidental or placebo inebriation; there have also been cases of adaptations cutting out underage drinking scenes or ageing up characters so that they can smoke), so it's safe to assume that the bottles contain some sort of mock champagne soda.