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Published: November 28th 2006
Hi Everyone,
I am sorry I haven’t written an update in a while. Last Wednesday, Marc and I went up to the Executive Lounge here in the hotel so we could have a glass of Champaign to celebrate our finding a new apartment. The bar stools up there are really high and some how I twisted my back the wrong way. Consequently, I have spent the last few days either laying as still in bed as possible or …… well never mind, I’ll spare you the details! Sunday I had finally had enough and Marc (internet sleuth that he is,) found a chiropractor on line. I was NOT crazy about going to someone I didn’t know, but Marc hadn’t been able to get any referrals from colleagues as it was a holiday weekend. Any way, he found an Australian (read that English speaking) chiropractor on line who seemed to have good credentials and a good medical philosophy. When he called and found out they were open on Sunday I jumped for joy… Ok not literally, but I would have if I could! Well, when we got there, the Australian (English speaking) doctor wasn’t in, only his Japanese colleague. At this point I was hurting so bad I (almost) didn’t care. In any case the nurse did a great job interpreting for us and I am on the mend! Still not even close to 100%, but least I can roll over in bed, and walk a bit without crying out in pain every 3rd step! Anyway, with the explanations out of the way…. on to the details about our new apartment.
In a word, we are very excited. (We are really getting tired of this hotel room!) We take possession of the apartment on December 5th and our furniture / household goods are going to be delivered on the 6th. Of course this assumes that we can come up with the necessary funds for security deposits, agent’s commission and first month’s rent. We need 4,440,725 yen (or $38,615!!!) by Thursday. Marc has been working late the last few nights trying to coordinate wire transfers from both personal and corporate accounts so that we can accommodate everyone under the sun! (We tried to go and open our checking account last Wednesday, but as usual, they did not understand why we are here without work visas and not with the military. So, we are in the process of getting letters from corporate that explain who we are and why we are here…. Hopefully we will have jumped through all their hoops and they will open an account for us before the next months rent and the utility payments become due!) As Marc said on the previous entry, we got very lucky and found an apartment that is a little more than 1,800 square feet! We NEVER thought we would be able to find something that large in our price range. Our rent will be 750,000 yen / month or a little over $6,500 at current exchange rates. We didn’t get 3 bedrooms, only 2, but they are both quite large (by Japanese standards). In addition, both bedrooms have en suite bathrooms, also almost unheard of in Tokyo. The apartment had just come on the market that day, and they were just finishing up the remodeling of it. It was redone for westerners in that there are all western appliances in the kitchen and the showers in the bathrooms are combination tub/showers as opposed to the “shower room” we were used to seeing. That said, though, it has a lot of Japanese touches. The kitchen has large windows and there are Japanese screens for them. These are sort of “opaque screens” that you slide open or closed. The door into the living area is all wood but it is very Japanese in style. The bathroom sinks are also very modern / Japanese looking. It is hard to describe here. I will take pictures and post them here just as soon as we unpack the card reader, I promise. The living room area does not have floor to ceiling windows, rather they are just very large windows and there is a wide “ledge” that will be perfect for plants! We were so excited about the apartment that we didn’t realize until later that it doesn’t have a balcony, so the window ledge will be perfect for my “garden.” The other really nice thing is that we have a view of Tokyo Tower front and center from the living room. We haven’t seen it at night, but it should be really nice. After all the discussions about the Japanese refrigerators and toilets, I hate to disappoint you all, but as the apartment has been “westernized” we didn’t get these amenities. They had put in a brand new side by side refrigerator and I didn’t want to ask for a different one! The apartment is about 2 or 3 blocks from the other one we were hoping to get. The difference is that this apartment is off the main drag so it will be quieter than the one we had originally hoped for (the one that was above the 2 bars!) The lobby area in this building is not a contemporary and fancy as some we have seen, but it is still nice. A lot of buildings we looked at had great big fancy marble lobbies with crystal chandeliers, etc. Those are nice, but they do come with a price. Ours is not fancy at all, but it does have nice little Japanese touches, including a small Koi pond out front. We are really close to lots of restaurants, grocery stores, shopping and the subway. The building is about 50 / 50 Japanese / expats, so that is good too. The building does not have a concierge, but a friend of ours found a great website for us. It is for expats in Tokyo and once you “join” for a small fee you can ask questions, directions, referrals, etc. It seems like it will be a perfect “virtual” concierge! (Thanks for the info Anne!!!) In, any case, that’s about it for now! (Need to go rest my back a bit) I’ll report in again as time allows.
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Karen
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Oh Arlene!!
Get well soon my sweet friend! How awful to be ailing so far from home but in a few days, you will have a brand new home!