Living On Our Own!

I know...I know...It's been ages since my last blog. After I wrote the last one I had no idea of the events that would transpire afterwards, like moving into an apartment! If you read our most recent newsletter then you know about a few of the challenges that we've faced. Here is a recap for you just in case.

• First, finding an apartment owner that would allow foreigners to rent from them! We're not in the US people!
  
• Having many successfull AND unsuccessfull shopping adventures! It's hard to shop in Japan!Where's a Wal-Mart when we needed one! Actually, most of our appliances and furniture were bought at a resale shop. The name of the shop is "Almost New" and they mean it. We got some very good deals. It was a God thing! There aren't many good resale shops in Japan. The Japanese like to buy things new.


• The next challenge was getting the new furniture up a very narrow staircase into our apartment! The couch didn't fit and so we had to take off the doors to our small balcony and hoist it up with a rope! I hear that this is nothing new to moving in Japan. If that's so, then I'd think the movers would always keep a ladder handy. Thank goodness Nick is so tall! Check out the picture of him below!


• Now we've got to figure out how to use the appliances we bought because they're all in Japanese! But, like I said in the newsletter, they are very smart.


• One thing we don't have yet is Internet. You would think that having the Internet company come out to our apartment to hook it up would be easy. But, you guessed it....things aren't that easy here! We made our appointment with the company and they will come in about a month. So, we're making frequent trips to the Gateley's to check our e-mails! It's a good thing they only live 5minutes away!

We've almost got all the basic needs now and life is starting to get back to a normal routine after moving. Hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch with you better. Check out the pictures below! Some you've seen and some you haven't.

Yes, our bed does take up most of the room. Keep in mind that It’s only a double bed!

Here is a picture of our washing/drying machine.
Just wanted to give you a glimpse of the Japanese we're we're working with.

On the left is our smartoven/microwave. It's tucked into a shelving unit that is very popular in Japan. It's purpose is to hold this kind of oven and a rice cooker, of course! The Japanese name for it is a "shokudon." We've learned that you have to buy space to hold things in japan, it's not built in.

Now, I think your ready for a little tour of our Toilet Closet. There is no such thing as a bathroom in the homes of Japan. There is a shower and tub in one small room, and a toilet-washlet in another small room. We find these separate rooms much more convenient than American style bathrooms. The room for the toilet is about the size of a small closet...therefore a Toilet Closet. Anyways, above is a picture of our prized toilet. Yes, that is a sink on top of the toilet in the picture to the left. It's sits on the back of the toilet and water runs through the faucet as the toilet tank fills. It's clean water....I promise! The other comfort of home is the heated toilet seat. I can't believe the US has not adopted these! It's great for the winter time here because there is no heat in that little Toilet Closet. These seats also have a number of functions....you can....wash your tushi with whatever pressure and temperature of water that you want. The Japanese company that is famous for making these is called ToTo. Recently, we heard that you can visit the ToTo show room and try out every toilet seat they have!

Remember when I said that you have to buy most of your storage in Japan. There ARE two storage exceptions that are included in your apartment. One of the exceptions is for shoes. In a country where taking off your shoes when you come inside is a VERY BIG DEAL, it stands to reason that they would have a place for your shoes when you come inside. Directly when you come into a Japanese home there is a place where you take off your shoes and then you step up to enter the house. Don't forget to turn your shoes facing the way out so that they are easy to put on when you leave! But, where do you put all of those shoes that you take off? There is a convenient shelving unit beside the door. You can keep all of your shoes there. It is very rare that people keep their shoes in their closet in the bedroom.

The other storage exception is the "trap door". Each home has a door that goes underneath the house or apartment. Our"trap door" opens into a crawl space that is the length of our apartment. It's a little scary to think about storing things underneath a building. I always think of the little critters that might live there. But, it seems to be lines with plastic and critter free. We just have to be able to fit the things we want to store through the small "trap door."
Well, that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed the little tour of our apartment.