A lot has happened since the last time I wrote! We moved into our house, Shane left to meet the ship, and I'm trying to get us settled in. We moved in on July 1st and Shane had to leave on the 3rd so it was a very hectic few days. I miss him terribly and wish he could come home, but under the circumstances I'm dealing pretty well.
This is our home!!! We decided to live in town rather than on base to get the full experience here and I'm soooo happy with our decision! It certainly comes with some, um learning curves that don't exist in housing, but it's all part of the experience. For example, renters insurance, cable, internet, gas, etc...just imagine what it's like setting everything up when you move...then imagine if the people setting it up don't speak english! Oh, and the manuals (and bills) for everything are also in Japanese...some of the companies have english manuals, the cable company for example has a 5 page english guide. Funny though, the Japanese version is 50 pages, think there's anything lost in translation?! The only thing recognizable on bills is your name and (possibly) the amount you owe in Yen. We got our first bill in the mail last week, it was addressed to "Shame Price"!
As you can see, houses are very close together here. We love that we're at the end of the street and back up to a wooded-hill area so we have some privacy.
You may have heard that the Japanese take their shoes off at the door. I didn't realize just how serious they are about this until we signed our rental contract and had to agree that we would not wear shoes in the house! It's actually in the contract! Conveniently there's a huge shoe closet by the door. The owner even left slippers for us to wear in the house!
There's something about this picture that I simply love. Maybe it's the site of our stuff that we haven't seen in over 4 months (every time you move with the Navy your belongings are packed into these wooden crates and you pray they show up on the other side.) Maybe it's the view of Japan from the front of our house. My absolute favorite part though is the expression on Shane's face - a funny combination of exasperation and amusement that I'm taking a picture rather than focusing on the movers.
This is the least amount of cabinet space I've ever had in a kitchen! You're seeing all of it in this one picture!
Which of course meant I had to make a trip to Homes (it's similar to Home Depot) where I sucessfully purchased and assembled the metal shelving you see here! Simple right? Well, as I'm quickly learning here everything is an adventure. First I had to convert from cm to inches so I knew what size I needed (I also took a tape measure to be sure). Then I had to ask someone for help because the size I needed wasn't there - lots of pointing and hand motions were involved. While the lady was searching in the back a manager walked by and thought I needed help even though I was trying to have a I'm-completely-content face. Since he didn't speak English he brought two other ladies over to help, but I couldn't get across to them that I was already being helped. Fortunately she came back with my shelf and they understood what I was trying to tell them. Luckily assembly was easy and tada - I've more than doubled our kitchen storage!
As you can see, we are clearly moved in but NOT unpacked! I'm making progress though, just need to keep up the motivation!
One of our toilets...yes, that's a sink on top for washing your hands. Anyone else a little grossed out by this? It also has a seat warmer and two water features that are unrelated to the sink...I'll just live it at that.
Our shower/bathtub room...the shower is for cleaning, bathtub is for soaking only. I haven't tried the tub yet, but it has some kind of circulation system that keeps the water hot as long as you want. Due to this system no soap, shampoo, bubble bath, etc... in the tub. I'm not really clear how it works though...the faucet is in the shower area and there's no visible spout in the tub...I've also been told that if you turn on the heater/circulator when it isn't filled with water it will break it...there's a digital pad on the wall that works the tub but I'm afraid to start pressing buttons so I guess I'm going to fill the tub using the shower sprayer and then start experimenting!
Last but not least, the tatami room!!! The straw mats on the floor are called tatami mats. The window/door have the traditional paper covering. I think this room is beautiful!
This is our home!!! We decided to live in town rather than on base to get the full experience here and I'm soooo happy with our decision! It certainly comes with some, um learning curves that don't exist in housing, but it's all part of the experience. For example, renters insurance, cable, internet, gas, etc...just imagine what it's like setting everything up when you move...then imagine if the people setting it up don't speak english! Oh, and the manuals (and bills) for everything are also in Japanese...some of the companies have english manuals, the cable company for example has a 5 page english guide. Funny though, the Japanese version is 50 pages, think there's anything lost in translation?! The only thing recognizable on bills is your name and (possibly) the amount you owe in Yen. We got our first bill in the mail last week, it was addressed to "Shame Price"! 
As you can see, houses are very close together here. We love that we're at the end of the street and back up to a wooded-hill area so we have some privacy.
You may have heard that the Japanese take their shoes off at the door. I didn't realize just how serious they are about this until we signed our rental contract and had to agree that we would not wear shoes in the house! It's actually in the contract! Conveniently there's a huge shoe closet by the door. The owner even left slippers for us to wear in the house!
There's something about this picture that I simply love. Maybe it's the site of our stuff that we haven't seen in over 4 months (every time you move with the Navy your belongings are packed into these wooden crates and you pray they show up on the other side.) Maybe it's the view of Japan from the front of our house. My absolute favorite part though is the expression on Shane's face - a funny combination of exasperation and amusement that I'm taking a picture rather than focusing on the movers.
This is the least amount of cabinet space I've ever had in a kitchen! You're seeing all of it in this one picture!
Which of course meant I had to make a trip to Homes (it's similar to Home Depot) where I sucessfully purchased and assembled the metal shelving you see here! Simple right? Well, as I'm quickly learning here everything is an adventure. First I had to convert from cm to inches so I knew what size I needed (I also took a tape measure to be sure). Then I had to ask someone for help because the size I needed wasn't there - lots of pointing and hand motions were involved. While the lady was searching in the back a manager walked by and thought I needed help even though I was trying to have a I'm-completely-content face. Since he didn't speak English he brought two other ladies over to help, but I couldn't get across to them that I was already being helped. Fortunately she came back with my shelf and they understood what I was trying to tell them. Luckily assembly was easy and tada - I've more than doubled our kitchen storage!
As you can see, we are clearly moved in but NOT unpacked! I'm making progress though, just need to keep up the motivation!
One of our toilets...yes, that's a sink on top for washing your hands. Anyone else a little grossed out by this? It also has a seat warmer and two water features that are unrelated to the sink...I'll just live it at that.
Our shower/bathtub room...the shower is for cleaning, bathtub is for soaking only. I haven't tried the tub yet, but it has some kind of circulation system that keeps the water hot as long as you want. Due to this system no soap, shampoo, bubble bath, etc... in the tub. I'm not really clear how it works though...the faucet is in the shower area and there's no visible spout in the tub...I've also been told that if you turn on the heater/circulator when it isn't filled with water it will break it...there's a digital pad on the wall that works the tub but I'm afraid to start pressing buttons so I guess I'm going to fill the tub using the shower sprayer and then start experimenting!
Last but not least, the tatami room!!! The straw mats on the floor are called tatami mats. The window/door have the traditional paper covering. I think this room is beautiful!
WOW Pepper. The house is so cool. I bet you will have it all fixed up to your liking in no time.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see what all you do with the place!
HUGS from TEXAS.
Nice! Strange..it kind of reminds me of your house in Hawaii.Can't wait to try those red slippers!
ReplyDeletelove the toilet!! it kind of freaks me out..haha.. Good luck and Don't hit the wrong faucet!! hehe
ReplyDeleteSo what is the significance of the tatami room and the tatami mats? Is there more to it than just being a traditional Japanese room?
ReplyDeleteI was going to ask the same question as Christy.
ReplyDeletePS, you lived in Honolulu in Hawaii? Jay's cousin lived there(more in the middle of the island) and we visited them on our honeymoon.