Enlarging Photos

Just in case any of you are a slow as I am...you can open any photo on the blog to its full resolution by clicking on it. Not that they are very good, but you may be able to see more detail, or appreciate exactly how small our apartment is in full resolution. I realized this by accident last week, and have been forgetting to let everyone know. (I know grandma, it is basic computing but most of my friends are idiots).

Moving on Up

We have found an apartment and are beginning to move in this weekend. It is exciting to have our own place, but now the reality of having to move is setting in. Do not ever take having a car for granted. It is amazing how hard it is to purchase two 21"x21" end tables when you have to transport them over an hour back to your house by train! Probably not the best idea, and even worse to try at rush hour, but we made it and leaned an important lesson of what to never do again. Funny that my first trip to Ikea was in Tokyo. Apparently cheap Scandinavian furniture appeals to everyone. We went to look for a bed, but after spending $20 to get there and back we had to buy something. I am very excited about my "Fixa" tool kit. It has a hammer, screw driver, wrench, and wire cutter. I think that makes me a professional repair man in Tokyo. As you can see our place is pretty small, but it is a great deal. We got it through a friend of Aya's dad so we are paying about 60% of fair market rent. Add to that the fact that we do not have to pay him any deposit, any "gift" for the right to rent his apartment, and no real estate agent fees, and we are also saving over 7K before we ever step foot into the apartment. It is located in Minamikugahara (south Kugahara) in the Ota ward of Tokyo. It will be about a 15 minute train ride to work which is a very short ride by Tokyo standards. We are happy to be moving but will miss the hospitality (and home cooking) of the Miyakoda's. I am pretty sure they are planning a party though. They will finally have enough food to eat, and Aya's dads beer will stop disappearing so quickly.

Based on the move this will likley be the last post for a few weeks. Our telephone and internet service will not be set up until towards the end of February. We will still have access to internet at work, so we will not be awol. Hopefully, the time off will give me some time to think of good posts, and gather pictures. I will gladly take some requests in the comments section for when I get "back to work."

See you soon.

One More Saturday Night

This saturday after work Miyakoda-san had a party to honor our arrival to the office, as well as Balin (the intern from Turkey) and her boyfriend Mehmet (Memo) who is visiting her. As you can see we had quite the spread, including $23 "large" pizzas. Threw the 12 oz. beer in the picture for scale. We had a great time and drank entirely too much sake! The 2 men in the last picture were a blast to hang out with. The one on the left is a master in Judo, and has trained many olympians, including Americans. The man on the right was a sumo wrestler. I do not believe he was a professional, but it was great to have him explain some of the tradition and technique. Sumo wrestling is very interesting and I can't wait to go to my first match. Hopefully it will be soon. One of Miyakoda-san's friends who is an architect owns a couple of buildings in Tokyo, and says that he may have a few apartments available that we can look at. He seems willing to give us a good deal if we like one, so we will see what happens.

Big America going fast

In sad news today the Big America Texas Burger supply is rapidly diminishing. After record sales of 28 billion yen (a little over $280 million US) for McDonalds on its first day of sales, January 15th, McDonalds is running out of ingredients to prepare the burger. They just can't keep enough fried onions, or special BBQ sauce in the stores to satisfy demand for the burger. They have actually had to limit the daily supply to a set number of burgers at each participating location. I now plan to get up early and go to each McDonalds and buy all of their Big Texas Burgers and then sit in the front window and eat them all. I cannot think of a better way to reinforce the stereotype of overweight, fastfood consuming Americans. This is the sign notifying disappointed Japanese that I have eaten all of the burgers for the day. Please do not worry though this is just the first burger in the Big America series so I still have "The Burger New York" with monterey jack cheese, bacon, tomato, lettuce, & grainy mustard; "The California Burger" with spicy cheese, bacon, tomato, lettuce, & a special sauce made with red wine from California; and finally "The Hawaiian Burger" with a fried egg, special gravy, & lettuce with american cheese. For those not paying attention the ingredient that makes all of these American is bacon. I can't argue with that logic. The only thing better than bacon is bacon fried bacon. Gotta go I am starving.

House Hunters International

Locating a place to live is exciting, confusing, tiring, confusing, and a good way to start to learn your way around. It has also been a good way to get totally lost. I could not find my back to most of these apartments, but that is not such a problem since I will never have to remember how to get back to most of them. As with any real estate search the "perfect place" is a balance between location, size & amenitiy, and price. These samples below will illustrate some of this balance

Apartment 1 - this is the 4th we have looked at so far. It is located in Togoshi, a very dense traditional Japanese neighborhood oriented around a primary pedestrian street (not designated as such, but predominantly pedestrian with a few vehicles that brave the masses) packed with small shops, markets, and restaurants.

This area has quickly emerged as our prefered location. This apartment is 1DK (meaning 1 bedroom with a dining room/kitchen) and a little over 40 square meters (430 square feet). It is new construction, multilevel, and we love the closet space (which is totally shown in the single photo, and is enormous compared to most).

Apartment 2 - again in Togoshi this is 2DK (2 bedroom, dining/kitchen). A very traditional layout, with a tatami bedroom. Not much else to write home about. The most expensive of the group, and not an ideal layout, but good space in a great location.

Apartment 3 - another in Togoshi. This is perhaps the largest apartment we have seen. It is a bit older than most we have seen and a very traditional floorplan. It is 1LDK (bedroom, living room, dining/kitchen) and 48 square meters (516 sq.ft.). We see potential in the floorplan, but also see that it could require a bit more furniture ($$$), and may provide space we do not absolutely need. Of course it could also be a good value given the size and the price. The major draw back is that it is on the ground floor, which limits the natural light, and privicy since it fronts the street. It also makes us a bit worried about drying our clothes, since it is common to hang your clothes on the balcony to dry to conserve energy. The good thing is that not many people can fit into my clothes, and to be honest my fashion is so 90's not a single Japanese person would be caught dead in my clothes...Aya is a bit more worried about her gear.

Apartment 4 - In the heart of Togoshi, on the main street. A truly mixed use building with this unit being 1LDK , and 44.4 square meters (478sq.ft.). This one has just about everything we could want...a great location, a good price, and enough space to satisfy. But, and there always seems to be a but, THE BATHROOM SINK IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE KITCHEN (see last picture)!!! This is a retrofit of an older building so you can expect some quirks, but we are not sure if this is a deal breaker. However, it would be great to walk out your door and be foot steps away from the grocery store, produce market, fresh seafood market, butcher shop, etc. It will also be nice to only have to navigate a single street to get everything we need. I have not yet learned how to say, "I am lost, can you please take me home?," nor as a man can I admit that no matter where on earth I am.

Apartment 5 - This is a 1LDK unit. Not much to say. It is not special in size, location, or price. Just put it on here so you would have more pictures to look at.

Apartment 6 - a 1LDK unit, 63 square meters (678 sq.ft.). This is one of the largest, and least expensive units we have seen. Thus, this unit sacrifices location. It is the furthest from work, and would be about a 20-25 minute bicycle ride to get there. In my mind that makes walking to work as likely as living on the sun. This split level does have great space, but it is a bit cavernous due to being on the gound floor with the bedroom in what is basically the basement. However, it has one of the better kitchens we have seen since it acutally has a counter top...about 2 feet of it.

Apartment 7 - a 1LDK, this unit is one of the more recently constructed. It has nice finishes, and is a good size for us. It is about 5 blocks from Togoshi, but is on the 3rd floor of a building located along the 2nd most major roadway in Japan. The vehicular traffic is a constant, and this unit is not quite high enough to escape the noise. However, this is a very desirable area, and the real estate agent was sure to remind us that this apartment was already shown earlier in the day, has a showing tomorrow, and will likely not last long. Rest assured that high pressure sales are not unique to any country.

What is interesting is that in Tokyo they have some unique customs when it comes to renting an apartment. Of course there is the 1-2 month deposit typical of any rental, and payment of the first months rent at signing. But on top of this you will also have a 1-2 month "gift" for the right to rent the apartment, plus a one month finders fee for the real estate agent. So based on the average price of $1400/month we will owe about $8400 when we decide which apartment we will rent. Thank god $2800 of that will be returned if we do not damage anything...it will be interesting to see how that process goes.

formatting

Not quite sure what the deal is with this blog. It shows me one thing when I am setting it up, and as soon as I press "post" it formats the pictures and text however it wants. To those with graphic sensibilities I appologize. I can only hope I get better as the posts continue. (I tried to keep the formatting simple with all of the pictures aligned to the right and text to the left. But this is what I get) Maybe when I stop trying it will all work out...that's how I ended up here at least.

The Office

So this is the office. Pretty much like any other
office...but as if working wasn't bad enough everything is in some other language! When I say everything I mean EVERYTHING! TIme sheets, computer programs, scheduling meetings, even saving a word document is an adventure. Its is amazing how different everything in a drop down menu looks when they consist of this あいうかっこききぶぷたん. Not sure if I am saving a file or erasing the servers, but what they heck just hit what I think means yes and keep going. If it really messes something up we can always blame the intern...
which I think is me. At least that is the only
wordI recognize when everyone is pointing at me and laughing. The walk to work is nice,
about 15 minutes along the Meguro River. Everyday the office does lunch together from the 7-11. This will soon be a topic all of its own. Amazing what you can get from a convenience store in Japan. The final picture is of my desk. Not much, but it is all mine (right now I am happy to claim anything as mine since I am still leaching off of Aya's parents, sleeping in a crib, and living out of suitcases). They told me not to get my work area too messy until they are sure this is working out. No one
wants to clean up after the gaijin (foreigner)
if they decide to have me deported for not properly serving the tea with lunch. Hopefully, I have been doing enough right to offset the mistakes. Everyone has been extremely helpful, and as best as I can tell I am actually able to help them at times. Maybe they are just to nice to tell me the truth, but either way things are going well so far.

We Have Arrived!!!

Welcome to Tok'yall, the blog that will follow the adventures of a simple southern boy & his native guide in Tokyo. So far all is well. We arrived 2 days ago and have been acclimating to our new environment nicely. Aya's parents were happy to see her, and even happier to know she will be here for a while. I guess they are coming to terms that I too will be here for a while, but her father continues to try to scare me away with talk of 9-7 workdays (supposedly I will be leaving earlier than the Japanese staff), and casual 9-5 saturdays. I am pretty sure he is joking. No one works that much right??? I guess I will find out as I begin working tomorrow.

Aya's parents treated us to home delivered sushi saturday night. Amazing that you can have fresh sushi delivered for $13 per person, but a medium pizza delivered is about $30. So far we have eaten very well, although I am not 100% sure what some of it has been. This morning we had a traditional new years breakfast which consisted of broiled sardines, fish cakes, pickled vegetables, cured fish wraped in seaweed, herrin roe, pumpkin, potatoes, lotus root, bamboo shoot, ozoni (a soy broth with rice cake, chicken, green onion, youzu citrus, and mushrooms), and a special sweet sake. A little different than bacon and eggs.

We have begun looking for an apartment. So far we have only toured 3, but one thing is for sure, whatever we find will be SMALL! The largest we have seen is about 500 square feet, and has 2 bedrooms. I guess if you work 100 of 168 hours in a week you do not need much but a bed to come home to (good since that is about all that will fit). We hope to see many more apartments in the next few weeks, but will have to balance location, size, and cost.

Today was a holiday, "coming of age day", celebrating everyone who turns 20 this year. It celebrates their entrance into adulthood (and 100 hour work weeks - you're welcome!). We went to the Meiji Shrine, along with thousands of others, to pray and observe the women in traditional kimonos. It is amazing how ornate they are. Apparently they can also cost in excess of $10,000. It is kind of like a fashion show with all of the young women in kimonos posing for crowds of people taking photos very much like paparazzi.

After the shrine we toured Takeshita in the Harajuku district. It is a very interesting street consisting of shops, restaurants, and cafes. It caters to the younger 20 something crowd, and leather wearing gender benders. From there we went to Aoyama Road which is the fashion district. If it is name brand and costs 5 to 500 times what it is worth you can find it on this street. Needless to say I was a bit out of place here, but it was fun to window shop and people watch.

So far it is going great. It is obviously a big change, but so long as I can get the "Big America Texas Burger" everything will be just fine.