Our Japanese Apartment

Grand View Yagoto

Our unit is the ground floor closest to the camera.  Having come from America & being a light sleeper, being immediately adjacent to both the road and the parking lot was NOT ideal.  Japan is also NOT America.  Most cars never leave the lot (public transit is better than driving) and they are either hybrids or electric and are completely silent. 

From the front...

Stalking the apartment while we waited to move in.  (We were in the hotel for 6 weeks while the rental furniture was being readied and while our furniture from America was traveling over by sea and going through customs.)

Entry way

All homes in Japan have a dedicated entry way shelf (see on the left).  Most have a shoe storage closet.  All have a delineation in the type of flooring where shoes are not allowed. We have a second trash can near the door as garbage is divided into 9 types that I can count off the top of my head...  The smaller compartments fill up in our divided bin and we keep them near the door to go out on the specific days.

Shoe closet

I still can't believe all of our shoes, boots (including outdoor gear) fits in here.  

Vanity / Laundry Room

On the left after entering is our vanity/laundry.  Items of interest - the washer and dryer are one unit.  It takes upwards of 4 to 5 hours to do a load with drying because of the lower wattage here.  The vanity is in a separate room from the shower and the toilet is still another room...

The Shower / Tub

Typical protocol here is to shower yourself completely clean, then bathe.  Many family members can re-use the same bath water this way.  The electronic controls fill the water to a specified level and temperature and will reheat it to any temperature you choose.  It also has an intercom for communicating with the interface in the kitchen.  This is normal and not a feature of a high-end apartment.

Bathtub

Japanese bathe regularly for relaxation after showers.  The cover is to keep water between baths without draining.  I can submerge myself AND my legs up to my ears in here.  There is a control on the ceiling to blow cold air as well as directional slats on the window so that you don't instantly overheat.  I laugh thinking about the great lengths I would go to with a box fan and ice water to stay comfortable in the bath back home..  and then 20 minutes later climb out of cold water.  CHILDS PLAY!

Tub water controls

This also allows you to set priority to the shower, unlike in the US, so when someone turns on the water somewhere else in the house you aren't either scalded or frozen.  Also controls the water level it fills, the temperature of the water, and the reheating temperature.

Japanese Toilet

Two words:  HEATED SEAT.  I remember my first experience of one of these at the Boeing Concept Center in Seattle.  There is something slightly terrifying about it the first time you do it.  Jumping up is not really an option...  And once you are used to it, western toilets seem so primitive, I wonder how Japanese survive on trips to America or how I will survive when I return.  The first time I saw a "toilet sink" in a restaurant bathroom I was really confused.  I didn't know how I was supposed to turn it off... was it for washing hands or just white noise?  Where was the soap?  Derp.  It is genius - the water fills the tank for the next flush.  Even the toilet paper holder is superior.  I can change toilet paper with one hand.  No more of those spring loaded devices launching itself across the bathroom while on the throne trying to change paper.  

Zee boudoir

Fun fact:  many of our friends have this identical furniture in their bedrooms.  We picked it out of a rental furniture catalogue.  Our bed actually lifts up - we have bedding and our snowboards stored underneath.  

Zee Boudoir Part II

All of the windows are frosted glass except the balcony and the office in the back.  I kind of like the privacy and not having to rush to close the curtains when it gets dark or for a quick change.

Kitchen

Featuring... A GAS STOVE!!!!  THANK YOU GOD!

Kitchen Part II

Our microwave AND oven combined, toaster, and rice cooker.  Rice cookers are available up to and beyond $1000 USD.  This is a cool machine.

Water controller in the kitchen

Hot water is generally off when not being used.  Flip it on and it is on-demand.  You can also fill the bath tub from the kitchen.  I just about fell over when our relocation specialist showed us this.  This is also where your spouse can be reached in the event of an emergency (such as...  running out of wine or whiskey while bathing).

Workout room / Guest Room

My dedicated workout space.  I LOVE IT!  I no longer have to work out next to a counter height breakfast table which also served as my desk.  The ceiling fixtures here are controllable for color of light and brightness by remote.

View looking towards the front of the apartment

Dining room / Bar cabinet

More of the same...

The workout room has one sliding door and two sliding frosted glass panels to shut if off from the living room and kitchen when desired.  

Living Room

This couch has traveled more than the average American!  Also, our Japanese TV.  Purchased and delivered literally the day we moved in JUST in time to catch the PAC-12 Championship (Huskies vs. Buffaloes) on Friday December 2.

Huskies vs. Buffs in PAC-12 Championship - JAPAN VISION

We did all of our tailgating this year from our hotel bed or from our living room.  This involved coffee AND beer.  A little cultural fusion here - American football in our Japanese living room.  Japanese beer in my American mug and American coffee in my Japanese Nagatani-en mug. #RiceNoodleFish in its glory front and centa on the coffee table.

Balcony

The balcony is quite large and has a sink.  No BBQs allowed though.

My first morning in the Apartment

The view of the neighbors maple in the fall and the sunrise out the window is lovely.  I have a thing for corner windows...

My Office <3

The same 11 in MacBook I drug around Southeast Asia, an Ikea adjustable height desk, an ergo chair from the Portland Ergo Depot store (I have a bad back), and my monitors.  The only thing it is missing is a bar cart a la Mad Men.

Home Office Part II

Christmas in Japan!

In the whirlwind that was our trip over here and just being oriented to the city and not where to buy things and how to order online, Christmas presents between Justin and I fell sadly by the wayside this year.  My heart was warmed receiving these gifts from my family back in the US.  It made it feel like Christmas again.

Home Made Egg Nog!

I don't go around looking for egg nog back in the US at the holidays.  Probably for the best that the Pacific Ocean separates me from the nearest shop selling it...  But for some reason here, I was really craving it.  I always wonder what I will miss and not be able to find abroad and this year, egg nog was one of them.  A woman suggested I make it at home...  Off the bat I scoffed at the suggestion but in the end I did it.  A success!  I can control the sugar (always too much) and the rum levels (always WAY too low)!  I shall never buy egg nog again.

Our Seattle Family - Nagoya Dance Team

French Toast, Mimosas, and Johnsonville Brats cooked up for our friends.  We all come from Seattle but Justin is the only one born in the US in this photo!  Countries represented are Mexico, Panama, Japan, Canada, Malaysia, and Romania (if you count the absent wife of Muhammad),

Sunrise from my office window

I have a SE facing corner window and can watch the sun rise and set every day form my office..

The first snow in our apartment! January 15

Our Favorite Soba Shop - Sinshu Oraga Soba

This is their summer special with sweet potato tempura and costs about $6 USD.  The key to eating soba with chopsticks is to pull the noodles over the height of your head to separate them from the massive noodle clump.  Otherwise you are stuck with a noodle chain which you cannot pick up easily with chopsticks.

Front of Kajiken

The front of Kajiken - the abura soba shop in our Tempaku / Yagoto neighborhood.  This is what it looks like when it is closed for the New Year.  We just walked by each day sadly until it was open again.

Justin's Typical Abura Soba Lunch

Noodles with pork slices, a side of rice topped with kimchi, the lightly cooked egg.  Delicious.  Each item is available separately in the vending machine by the door.  You top the noodles with chili oil, vinegar and optional garlic and hot pepper flakes, stir and enjoy!

Kajiken - Our Neighborhood Noodle Shop!!

We love this place.  It was our first experience of willy nilly ducking into a kanji covered establishment with no clue as to what is inside.  This is abura soba (soupless noodles). You order your size of noodles and each topping from the vending machine before sitting around the counter.  It is frequented by mostly college-age guys as it is cheap, quick and not fancy enough for the college girls (or so I've been told).

Neighborhood French Bakery

I was heart warmed to see the "Gallette des Rois" sandwich board out front of this bakery.  It brought back very fond memories from high school French class with Ms. Wright and our Mardi Gras celebrations.  The world is indeed a small place.

I write to you from the peak of one of my two biggest life bucket list experiences (Justin feels the same way).  Since the last time I wrote the dust has settled – we have made our apartment our own, are relatively settled in our neighborhood and life, and have some big hitter travel experiences in the rear view mirror.  I will publish more on those shortly, but for now...

Welcome to Grand View Yagoto #101 …..

I love our apartment.  I had NO idea what type of place we’d have available to us in Nagoya.  We saw many dark, nearly windowless high-rise units online prior to coming to Japan.  I was bracing for this.  I love the adventure of living somewhere new equal parts to how much I value how I feel in a home.  The supply of apartments is relatively short due to the influx of foreign workers with Mitsubishi.  It was a difficult tie between a smaller apartment nearer to the city center and a larger apartment about 30 minutes ride from Nagoya station on the subway.  Both brand new and beautiful.  In the end, due to construction immediately adjacent to the city center apartment the other one won out.  In terms of space, it is relatively equal in size to our condo in Greenwood only with 3 rooms instead of 2.  It has a nearly identical layout.  It is MUCH more space than I expected us to have here.  It has an open layout, is south-east facing, allows me to have a place to workout (ground floor again so jumping around won’t bother anyone), and I have space for an office.  There is a large balcony as well.  And gas cooking (FINALLY gas cooking!  After many places with no gas cooking I was about to put this on my bucket list!).  And in floor heating.  And the “standard” Japanese bathtub and toilet for those of you who are familiar.  For those who are not, you haven't lived until you are familiar.  I will do my best to explain in the captions but this will not replace the experience of using either one.  The fact that our art deco style / mid century mix of furniture doesn’t look ridiculous with the modern feel of the apartment is just the cherry on top...