Home

kitchen--thats the oven on top of the little fridge and my stove is the little black rectangle on the left hand side

living room and dining room and kitchen--a pretty standard layout for apartments around here

living room looking into tatami room

bedroom with tatami matting--that window goes through to the balcony

The best part of the whole place!  It faces south so we can watch the fireworks over the Tamagawa River

entry room with a small shoe closet

sink and laundry room

shower and tub--in Japanese culture, you shower before you get in the bath so you are clean when you get into the water that the rest of the family will use for bathing.  

You could stay here!  I'll get you a bed and bedding and maybe even take the bike out!

When we searched for our apartments we had a hard time explaining that we wanted to be far, far away from work.  We would point to one place on the map and the school helper and the agent would point to another one, usually closer to school.  But, a little perseverance paid off and we found 2 places within a 10 minute bike ride of each other.  

Naturally I took the most expensive of all the apartments we looked at.  It's a 10 minute bike ride from school and borders Kinuta Koen, a large city park filled with trees, springs, and the occasional Taiko drummers.  It's a great way to start my day with a bike ride through the park on my way to work.