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I try to leave my shoes in the entryway.
The washroom is to the left with a sink, washer-dryer and shower/tub. The toire is to the right. Straight ahead is my
living room/dining room (very spacious). My bedroom has the sliding glass doors leading to the deck.
Well, there are many styles of toilets in Japan but this one is one of the most clever, I think. Why not use the water running
into the tank to wash your hands? Conserve some water that way! There is no hot water in the apartment unless I turn on
the gas hot water heater which is out on the deck and looks like a large breadbox. It heats water quickly and I can shower
as long as I want but I try to conserve because the utilities can be high.
The "cord" running across the floor is a cable (actually a conduit for gas) that connects to a wall outlet and is
connected to my little heater (I'll have to take a photo of it soon). The heater is about the size of a large brief case
and has an electronic ignition and a little electric fan. It keeps me cozy warm. Kitchen is to the right and tatami room
is to the left.
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| This is where you'll stay if you visit. |
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| Tatami Room |
| The Sunny Deck |
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| Facing the south |
I don't know why, but I can't seem to keep from digging in the dirt. I planted peas which never amounted to anything but
my basil has produced enough pesto to last me a year. The parsley is doing well and I've eaten lots of salads from my lettuce
plants.
Shower and tub are all enclosed with an accordian door. I haven't tried the tub yet. I think that it will be mighty cramped
for my long legs. The shower is wonderful and roomy. The big challenge is the moisture. There is a fan that vents to
the outside but it's very small and weak. The drain gets really smelly and I discovered this plastic ring of little bleachy
pellets that sits in the drain and releases some bleach everytime I take a shower. That really has helped with the smell.
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I don't watch much tv anyway but here I don't watch any....it's all in Japanese except for a few shows. The shows are not
very interesting to me so I would rather read a good book or play on my computer. There is nightly Japanese news in English
and a few movies but it's hard to know when the movies are on and then they are really weird movies usually.
There's a video/CD rental shop within walking distance of my apartment. For about 300 yen I can rent a movie for a week.
There are lots to choose from, but I have to be careful. A couple of times I've brought home a video in French or Spanish
with Japanese subtitles, yikes. I've rented Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Field of Dreams.... There's old classics like
Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock. Also lots of episodes of Friends and other TV series. They are a bit old but keeps me
amused. They all are English with Japanese subtitles.
This type of clothes line is very common. It's an aluminum pole which doesn't seem to stain the clothes thank goodness.
The clothes pins are rather large, of course, and the cool thing is that they don't leave any crease marks in your clothes
because the pole is so wide! amazing.
| Japanese style clothespin |
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| Japanese style "clothes line" |
Yes, it's small but it works if I don't wait two weeks to do laundry. Acutally I don't have enough clothes to really
wait very long to do laundry. The washer is great and I like it better than mine in the states. It's much easier on clothes
and has a handwash cycle that is really great.
I turned the water heater on for the first few loads of wash that I tried. Then I discovered that I was heating
water for nothing. THERE IS NO HOT WATER HOOK-UP TO THE WASHER! Cold water is my only option.
The downside is, again, the moisture. I have discovered a bleachy product that you dump in the machine and run through
once in awhile that cuts down on the moldy smell in the washing machine. Also the dryer is NOT vented to the outside so, again,
the fan is the only thing I have to get the moisture out of the apartment. I have avoided using the dryer much because I don't
want a moldy apartment. Ah, life's little challenges.
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