Our New Home

People who have been to Japan before warned us of two things when it came to housing. First, the living quarters are extremely small and second, rent is very expensive. We knew even before getting to Japan that the rent was pricey, but what we weren’t too sure of was the size. The only information we had was based on tatami mats and even still that didn’t help us out because we weren’t sure of the layout.

After we arrived in Japan, Karen brought us to our new home. Location wise we are in a great spot. There is everything we need outside our doorstep (i.e. am/pm convenient store, restaurants -- Japanese and North American influenced, a large store called Donki (this place sells EVERYTHING as soon as we walked in we had extreme sensory overload -- loud music, flashing lights, and products crammed everywhere!! It is pretty cool actually as the stuff they sell is awesome), a 12 floor department store called Kintsu ($$$), even a Baskin Robins!!! However, I think B.R. has closed down as there are signs posted outside on the shutter walls!! Big disappointment there let me tell ya!

We are also a 1 minute walk from the Uehonmachi train station which is great! The train stations here are CRAZY. There are so many different lines, entrances/exits, people, shops etc. It is pretty overwhelming. I can’t wait till I feel confident walking around the station without that fear of “Where the heck am I going!!” It is nice because the station also has a Seattle’s Best Coffee. The coffee and muffins are awesome and they offer free internet too!

As for our apartment it is a pretty old building. As soon as we walked in, we weren’t surprised by the size. It is pretty decent for the two of us. What did catch my attention was this nasty stench coming from somewhere around the washing machine. I thought it was just because the suite had been vacant for about a month so I didn’t think too much of it.

Karen showed us around and like I said before it was all very overwhelming mostly because of how tired we were. The washing machine, sink, and shower were all in Japanese and we had no clue how to work them. Karen tried to show us, but she had trouble reading the Kanji. We figured we would tackle it all in the morning, which we did. Some things were easier to figure out then others as I will explain in another entry.

Everything runs off gas which is a little new for me. Jame was excited when he found out the stove (no oven only stove top) was gas. Things cook a lot faster, but it does get pretty hot when it is on. That is o.k. though because we do have air conditioning. That was funny too because when we first got here it was sooooooooooooooooo hot inside. Karen had to take a picture of the AC remote control and send it to her friend through her phone because we had no idea how to work it. It all worked out in the end and now we have to memorize the Kanji characters so we know what is on/off, warmer/cooler etc. We pretty much have it down already!

Here are some pictures of our place. It is very different than home obviously, but now that we are unpacked and have purchased a few things it is slowly starting to feel more like our own.
Let us know what your impressions are!!!

toilet with a little faucet above to wash your hands


washing machine

shower and tub area -- it's huge!

door on the left = shower/tub
straight ahead = toilet
to the right = washing machine
**make sure you come out of the shower/tub room clothed....there is no door between you and your dinner guests :)**

living room

bedroom with futons -- oh how our hips love those futons!

kitchen / dining room

August 26, 2006