私のアパト

And finally, some pics of my cozy little home away from home!

This is the view of my street.

And, looking the other way down my street.

My apartment building

Just to show the layout of the apartment, this is taken from my entry hallway.
To the right is my bedroom, to the left is the kitchen, and in the middle is the living room. (There is another room as well, but I use it as a wardrobe / laundry hanging room, so I didn't take a photo of it.) The main rooms form a big square and are all separated by sliding doors that can be removed. So in the summer, I open it all up to let the breeze go through, and in the winter I shut off the kitchen and the living room to save on heating cost. A really versatile design!

My kitchen, in its usual state of "not clean."

Can you believe that this is actually a big kitchen for a Japanese apartment? Not much counter space, but it is a big room so you can create more with the right furniture. And I have tons of storage space as well. Check out my tiny fridge! You might notice that the stove is a two burner portable gas stove, which is standard here. Also notice the lack of an oven! Ovens are not traditionally part of Japanese cooking, so most homes don't have one. But I am lucky because someone before me invested in a microwave/oven combo, so I can bake small sized stuff.
That big white box on the wall is a water heater for washing dishes - this is on old building, which means there is no central water heater. So my kitchen sink and shower each have their own small water heaters.


A view of the kitchen and living room, looking towards the balcony. You can see my teeny kitchen table and my computer desk on both sides of the divider.

My living room

That low table is called a こたつ (kotatsu). It has a heating element underneath, and you can lay a blanket over it to create a little heated den for your legs when you sit at the it. Pretty neat, but I can't find the power cord for mine :-(

This is my favorite corner of the apartment.

My minimalist bedroom

I sleep on a futon. You are supposed to fold them up and put them away at night to save space, but I don't really need the space and I am lazy, so mine stays out. I don't like sleeping on a futon, it makes my back hurt pretty much every night, but that may just be that I have a bad back.

My sink area, with the shower on the right and toilet on the left.

This is my bathtub, and it has become my favorite thing since the weather got cold. (The water looks green cause I put scented bath salts in.)

I avoided the tub at first, because, well, it just looks too much like a cooking pot! But then I discovered the joys of Japanese bathing -- it is designed so that you can leave the water in there for a few days. It has a cover, and can be reheated in about 30 minutes. Traditionally, the whole family uses the same bath water, but for the pleasure of soaking and relaxing, not for washing. Any guests would go first, then the father, then the children from oldest to youngest, then the mother (of course Mom has to go last). And everyone would shower first so they would be clean when they got in. But I don't have to share with anyone thank goodness, so it is only my own essence that I am marinating in!

The shape of the tub is way better than the long rectangle ones we have back home, at least for someone my size. I always thought it was uncomfortable to lay in the tub because you had to lay your head on the porcelain and somehow brace yourself to keep from slipping down. But this tub is square, so I can just put up my knees and sit really comfortably. I love having a soak before bed on a cold night, but I don't do it that often ... I hate using up that much water and energy to make a bath for only one person.

My own very humble balcony garden! I am growing peas, lettuce, radishes, bok choy, chard, spinach, carrots and turnips. Can you believe I fit all that in such a small space?

This is the view from my balcony and out of my kitchen sliding door. It is basically my neighbor's HUGE garden, and a small cemetery. I really like observing the garden as the months goes on, seeing each plant get put in, grow, and harvested.

And this concludes the exciting tour of my Japanese apartment!