[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by dogsbody70

I am sure-- How difficult was it to obtain that cooker? Are they easily available.

There are quite a few models with full ovens on them, but as Gonative said - they`re for commercial use, so not what the average person would buy for use in their home. The in-laws had one, and when it broke replaced it with two separate units - a normal gas stove and a stand-alone oven that is about 3 times the size of the old (something that was like Gonative`s)
Japanese cooking doesn`t really call for a lot of baking, so for the average person installing one would be overkill and a waste of space.

Around here, at least, gas is the norm for stoves. Induction (IH) stoves are gaining market share, especially in newer homes as you can get significant energy cost discounts for being an "all electric" house.
In the countryside people tend to buy gas in tanks, and in the city it is piped in.

Personally, I prefer being able to see the flame when cooking. Induction apparently works quite well and has the same "instant" adjustment qualities as gas, but all those I have used make a terrible high pitched sound when on. I`ve encountered silent ones in restaurants, but none at the consumer level. If it makes me cringe in ear pain there is no chance of me using it on a daily basis, so we will stick to gas.

does that go fo most of them or just older homes?

what sort of insulation is there? Are most homes made from wood or other material.

I would say almost all of them, and that it`s a combination of material, energy costs, and tradition. Older houses were really only made of the lightest materials with no thought given to insulation. They`re usually barely warmer inside than outdoors, and to heat more than a single small area would be prohibitively expensive. This is accepted and considered normal.
Therefore even in newer houses it is considered normal to not heat large areas and for it to be cold inside the house. As there isn`t an expectation of good insulation, it isn`t given much priority. You get a sort of circle cycle - as it`s normal for it to be cold indoors, people don`t expect it to not be, so it stays cold indoors making that "normal", so people don`t expect it to be anything else, so....

Is there any kind of central heating?

It is very very rare for a normal household to have anything like central heating. It is my understanding that in residential homes 75% of the central heating market caters to expats in Japan. A very very tiny percentage of the population.
In general, it`s just too expensive and considered an incredible waste. People tend to gawk at the very idea of paying to heat rooms that may not be entered all day. It`s always been tradition to gather in the warm room, so there just isn`t the same attitude toward heating / cooling as in the west. Even the general thinking regarding temperature is different - warm enough to walk around in thinner clothing is pretty much unthinkable. Warm sweaters, thick socks, a blanket, etc, are normal indoor wear during the winter.

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My "house" is a condominium/apartment, which we purchased new. We looked into purchasing a house, but wanted a living space that was as large as possible, a large garden, a parking space, and privacy. The condominium fulfilled all of these better than a house would in the city.
The average city house is around 900 square feet with a "garden" of about 50 square feet. As there is little space around the house, there is little privacy. We have 1200 square feet for living, a 200 square foot veranda, and a 750 square foot garden... Plus a private entrance area, two private outdoor storage areas(10 and 30 square foot), and a parking space. The building is designed so that there are no windows or living spaces facing another unit, so there is more privacy than the average city house.

We have yet to put any work into this place other than basic installations (built-in dish washer, shelves, etc). As far as built in heating - there is no central heating (of course), but there are gas heated floors and a bath heater / dryer. For the floors, water is heated and piped under the floor to warm the room. It keeps the room quite warm without drying the air. It`s controlled on an area-by-area basis. The bath heater / dryer is a sort of combination gas heater and dehumidifier. It has a setting to heat the bath area, or to be a powerful dehumidifier. We rarely use the heat function as running a bath and showering will make the bath quite toasty, but use the dehumidifier almost every time it rains. As clothes driers tend to be quite rare, the main options for drying clothes are hanging them outside... Or hanging them inside. We hang them outside when the weather is nice, and inside the bath with the dehumidifier running when it is humid or raining.
Clothes driers then to have incredible running costs - a friend bought a tiny one and found that it used 60 yen of energy every half-load (only half a load or less would fit in it - she`d have to run it twice to dry a single small laundry load), so it ended up being disconnected and collecting dust. To run it every day to dry a full load would have nearly doubled the bill. And it was supposedly one of the more energy efficient models!
Driers seem to be most popular and get the most use from mothers using cloth diapers. Apparently those cannot dry quickly enough, so the cost is justified.

After we moved in, we installed AC units in two of the bedrooms, and one in the living room. All of them heat, but we rarely use them for anything other than cooling. In fact, we`ve never used the living room one for heat and may never. When we do use the bedroom ones, they are on timer to come on about an hour before we wake up so that we can crawl from the bed and change clothes without freezing. The rest of the heating is taken care of by the heated floor in the living room, a kotatsu, and on occasion a kerosene stove.

I imagine the thinking toward heating is a bit different where Gonative lives - winter is longer and a lot colder up there.