Our Japanese home.....
A few of you have asked about our home so I thought I would post a photo:
Beautiful, ain't it? Yeah, we couldn't believe it either, but believe it or not, this was a sight for sore eyes after what we went through with house-hunting! Here's the funny part -- this is our "neighborhood":
Yup, it looks just like the rest of 'em. We're lucky actually in that we're just one of five (in-a-row) houses in our little area, way away from base which we like (fighter jets tend to make a lot of noise when they take off...which is regularly). Funny thing the Japanese have done here: they've built groups of houses like these, all piled together (sometimes 10 or 20), amidst all this great open farmland. Again, we're lucky because we actually face some of this farmland:
So in most "neighborhoods" you'll be looking directly at your neighbors front door with nothing but pavement around you -- the front yards are actually just parking lots. And these are groups of houses built specifically for the Americans. It's like they are payback for the Japanese internment camps we set up during World War II! They're actually pretty nice inside even though Rick and I call it our glorified trailer-- pretty shoddy construction. Actually, it's not so much shoddy construction as it's built to shake with the earthquakes, which apparently happen all the time around here. People in the American-built high rise apartments on base say they "see" the earthquakes regularly when their curtains sway back and forth. Some even report feeling motion sickness at times. I myself have only felt two earthquakes since we've been here, neither big enough to shake anything off the shelves (though things were swaying a bit). Apparently there was a big earthquake here this past summer that shook pictures off the walls and left a few cracks in this house. Perhaps this is one reason why the houses here are so disposable -- the Japanese build them up and tear them down again within 8-10 years time. Ours is 3-4 years old and is in pretty good condition. We have all hardwood floors which the realty company expects to keep nice by mandating that no shoes be worn in the house (the number one rule on our lease). To the Japanese of course this is not a rule but a way of life -- you carry slippers with you or just go shoeless in many places. Since I am not a shoe girl this works great for me -- you wear your arctic footwear outside in the piles and snow, and take them off once you reach your destination--so no real need for nice, stylish shoes. Unless it is on base which I'm sure the Japanese are appalled by -- who would wear shoes INSIDE?!?! Even my toddler knows to take her shoes off before crossing through the door at preschool. So I don't mind the no-shoe rule so much. The house also is equipped with what I think could be the greatest Japanese invention ever: the heated potty. Ours is just a simple heated toilet seat but most Japanese western-style toilets are equipped with the technology to warm AND wash your behind and make noise while you do your business. As a matter of fact, if you are in a public place and see one of these toilets, you should USE the noise-making machine and flush the toilet no less than 3 times (before, during and after), as was instructed to us during our hazy first hours of arrival to this country ("we have no house for you, but here's how you should pee...") This was actually a somewhat useful instruction session considering the true Japanese toilet is a hole in the ground which you squat over -- affectionately referred to by the Americans as a "squatty potty" (I can now say I can use one of these which is good considering you'll find them in most public restrooms). But ours again is a simple western-model toilet with a wondrous heated toilet seat. Which is extremely nice considering our house -- like most Japanese homes-- does not have central heating. Instead they have individual heaters in each room (excluding the bathrooms and hallways) which you turn on and off manually whenever you feel the need to not shiver (which happens the moment you turn these heaters off--the air goes right back down near outdoor temperature sometimes). And you turn them OFF when you are not in the room because the heaters are powered by -- get this -- KEROSENE. People told us their heating bills topped $1,000 each month (maybe three fourths of which the air force will pay) so we keep ours off when we are not using the room. Not to worry though about the kerosene -- these are heaters unlike anything we have in the states that power out all the bad fumes (but just to be safe we hung carbon monoxide detectors). Still, it gets pretty cold in the hallways and bathrooms -- one particularly cold spell I had to chip frozen bathwater off the bathtub before readying it for Hannah Jane. So 'yay' for the heated potty! Another nice item in the house is the tankless water-heater: water comes out of the faucet pretty hot, pretty fast! We set the temperature ourselves through a control in the kitchen which of course is in Celsius and kanji. As a matter of fact, everything in the house is in kanji, which makes it sometimes frustrating, sometimes amusing as I'm trying to figure out what the sticker on the sink is trying to tell me (with exclamation marks!) or how to regulate the room temperature more effectively (hit every japanese-charactered button until it feels better in the room). If I really need to know something I ask Maki-san, the mamisan that "came" with the house (no kidding, after living here over a month she and her friend knocked on the door and declared that this was her house to take care of. Since she's a rare mamisan that cleans AND babysits I opened the door and signed her up!) It was Maki-san who I asked about the water out where we live. Apparently, we live close enough to a nuclear power plant (which I've yet to see) that doles our 9,000 yen ($90) each year to recipients of water in the area, "just in case" (big ???) Thinking that surely, the Air Force has checked out our water situation I didn't give it much thought 'til I wondered one day if the Japanese drink the water here. "Oh, no...no no no water," says Maki-san fervently. "I buy Maeda" (bottled supermarket water). So if we're glowing next time you see us, you'll know why.
Which brings me to my next subject and ends this ramble. Hannah Jane and I are planning to make a state-side visit this summer in July and August. The plan is to try to get back July 1 to DC and Charlottesville, and then head to Salt Lake in August to see the Lugers. We may even get to squeeze a visit in with the Schmokels in Minnesota and hook up with Aunt Kathy! Right now though as I look out the window at the billowing snow (it's almost April!) that seems pretty far off. So drop us an email or even give us a ring, and let us know how you're doing--we'd love to hear from you!
"Jah-neh" for now,
Mary
P.S. Rick is doing well in Korea, is on Skype, and would love to hear from anyone as well. He is currently working on an entry for this blog but is waiting on a camera to add a few photos of his own. Stay tuned....
