Itty bitty apartment!

Well, not that itty bitty according to Japanese standards, but 250 square feet is pretty tiny for someone who's so used to biggie-sized dinner portions, cars, houses, everything. Even my old JET-days apartment in Takaoka was twice as big, and I didn't have to furnish it either! I guess some of us are just pretty spoiled, so by no means I'm complaining. Regardless of the size, it's a really nice place. Throw in the personable landlord, I think hubby and I got pretty lucky this time as well!

View from the apartment's front door.

Bathroom and toilet on the left: Thank goodness I had a flushing toilet and not the moretraditional squatter!

If you're wondering why there is a drain outside of my bathtub, it is because you're supposed to soak in a hot bath, and prior to soaking you are to wash yourself off with the removable shower head outside. I just wish the toilet wasn't in the same room, but can't have my cake and eat it too now, can I?

We actually don't wash ourselves off outside the bathtub Japanese style anyway. Both hubby and I really hate getting the toilet wet, though when we brush out teeth and wash our faces, we get some water on the lid anyway. Oh well...

A view into the living room, kitchen, and dining area. Yes, those are shoes, and yes, mostly mine.

View of the entrance door from the opposite direction.

View of the dining area from opposite direction.

Close up of mini kitchenette, with a 2-eyes stove top and a miniature grill that's supposed to suffice as an oven. Hmm...

View of the bedroom door.

Coming into the bedroom.

Other side of bedroom

Other side of bedroom from the opposite direction, looking out into the dining area.

View of bedroom entrance from the opposite direction. There's no bed in my bedroom because hubby and I like to sleep on the traditional Japanese futon. He says he sleeps better on it. I still miss our bed at home though... :(

Looking straight out of bedroom into the kitchen and apartment entrance. Basically, my apartment is a long rectangular space.

Oh yes, my various trash bins to accommodate the Japanese trash-sorting system. Thank goodness there aren't 10 daily categories we need to sort where we live, but we do have a several.

The daily-3 that goes out weekly (not daily!) are:

- Burnable/Combustible Trash (moeru gomi): tan bin, front, for kitchen scraps and food waste

- Non-burnable/Incombustible Trash (moenai gomi): brown bin, middle, for non-recyclable plastic trash. They do burn these anyway, only at much higher temperature.

- Aluminum/PET Recyclables: white bin, back, self-explanatory.

Of course, each of the daily-3 is assigned a certain day of the week, and other than that day, it stays inside your apartment. Yes, this means you need to be absolutely careful or risk stinking up the apartment or worse, invite in all sorts of buggies. Oh, and trash is due out before 8 AM, not the night before, and not an hour later.

The 2 white plastic bags are 2 full bags of Non-burnables getting ready to go out the next morning. And the cardboards are waiting for their turn in a few days.

Other trash categories include:

- Paper trash: general paper (receipts, print paper, newspaper, magazines, etc.), cartons (milk, juice cartons, etc.), larger cardboard boxes. These go out only twice a month.

- Small metal appliances

- Cloth trash (used, old, unwanted clothing articles, cloth rags, etc.)

- Big trash (large household furniture such as sofas, etc.). You would have to first "apply" to dispose of them, then leave the article in front of your home, somewhere accessible for pick up. Oh yeah, and pick up is only once a month.

Below are pictures of my old JET-days apartment, just for kicks and comparison's sake. It was about twice the size of our current apartment, and since I was by myself back then, it was quite palatial! Even when hubby (then fiance) came to stay with me for a few months, we mostly used only 1 of the 2 rooms I had. So I guess if I were to think about it, this apartment really is just right for the 2 of us!

View of the front door.

Coming into the kitchen area.

Mini kitchen. As you can see, the 2-eye stove and miniature grill is standard for the vast majority of Japanese apartments. Many comes with only 1 eye, or worse, a single hot plate :X Talk about a bachelor's pad!

Dining area and living room.

I actually slept right there in the living room. AC was right above me and it was much cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter as there are no central cooling or heating in Japanese apartments.

The entrance to the supposedly bedroom.

However, because there was only 1 AC and it was installed in the living room, this "bedroom" doubled as an oven in the summer and a freezer in the winter, which explains why it was never utilized. An unfortunate waste of space :/

The doorway to the front entrance as well as the bathroom area were behind the dining table. And there was a sliding door that separates the bathroom area from the rest of the apartment, which was very nice.

And my toilet was separated from my bathroom with its own door for privacy. I told you I was spoiled.

Not only my toilet seat had an electrical warmer for the cold winter months where my tush won't have to freeze upon contact, it also had a spigot on top of the tank so I can save water by washing my hands with the new water, which is then stored for the next flush. I was really spoiled!

With the toilet in a separate room, my bathroom was much roomier, although I still didn't shower pre-soak Japanese style outside of the bathtub.

Outside of my bathroom towards the left, I even had a laundry area! Damn, I was so veryspoiled!

Did you notice the presence of the laundry machine inside my new apartment? No? That's because it's actually not inside my apartment but right outside my front door! Boy oh boy, I can't wait until laundry time mid winter. Oops, is that the sound of my clothes freezing in mid wash, or was it my hands? Okay okay I'll quit complaining.

There you have it. Living quarters now and then, both not so bad!