October 11, 2001. Welcome to my humble abode. My VERY humble abode.

So this is what my place looks like. It's not as small as I had first thought it would be. Hearing all those horror stories about the lack of living space in Tokyo and HK, I was imagining that I'd be placed in one of those stables where veal farmers keep their calves. My room, as you will see isn't that bad, but it's facing the road, and thus, noisy as hell all day and night. The traffic just doesn't let up around here.

They drive on the opposite side of the street in Japan. I almost get killed three times a day from looking the wrong way before crossing the street. That's why in kindergarten they teach you to look both ways before crossing. Damn, I wish that I paid more attention in class, instead of staring blankly at my Garfield shoes and hanging out with the kid who ate Lego.
This is it. Number 203 Azamino Haus.
The view from the walkway in front of my door.

The little walkway in front of my door. If you walk straight, you will hit a spiral staircase. Spiral staircases are great. It's almost guranteed death in case of a fire. It takes forever to get down them, so you will either be burned to a crisp or get trampled to death from the stampede of people behind you, who are also trying desperately to flee.
The deathtrap itself.

I wasn't lucky enough to get a real bed. Instead, I have a futon.

They don't have central heating or dressers here. So...

This is a shot of my air conditioner, which I will be using extensively during the 40 degree summers they have here.

My little closet. The luggage has yet to arrive, that's why it's empty.

Nova was good enough to give us a television along with the room. It's one of those TV/VCR deals, where the VCR is built into the same machine as the TV. It's good because there is a huge video store near here.

There isn't much on TV here that I can understand. I think the one exception is the Cartoon Network, which I don't even get at home. I spend my days watching Japanese MTV and reruns of Dexter's Lab. Sometimes there is Powerpuff Girls and one of my flatmates told me that the Simpsons are on now and again. I have yet to see it, but remain hopeful.

Here are the doors to the other rooms in the place. Yes, they are the same doors that you see in the last picture. This place is small. The door on the left leads to the best room in the apartment. It's a lot bigger than mine and actually has furniture in it. The person who has been in the apartment longest gets that room.

The room on the right is equally as spacious, but it doesn't have much in the way of furniture and it's right beside the TV, which sucks if your flatmates like to watch loud American movies late at night (and we do...bwahahaha!!).

This is the kitchen. I won't be able to make any big feasts in here. Being that I can't really cook, that shouldn't be a problem.

 The fridge is a little small for three people, but I suppose that we just have to go grocery shopping more frequently.

Woo hoo! No squat toilet! I was so afraid that I would get a hole in the ground, but nope. They actually have some cool toilets here. Once I find one, I will put it up on this site.

See that thing on top of the tank? It's like a little faucet that refills the toilet. I'm not sure why it sticks out like that, the water actually falls from the faucet into this little hole. My first thought was that it is some sort of cool mechanism that allows you to wash your hands after you do your thing. I am still not sure if this is the case, but I think it best to just wait the 10 seconds to wash my hands in a real sink, rather than in the toilet.

Here is the sink, just opposite the toilet. Nothing special about it, except that it is really low. Even I have to bend down to use it, which makes me pity my flatmates, who are 6'1" and 6'5" respectively.

It's funny, they have to duck each time they enter or leave the room. I think that the Japanese did this to get the gaijin (foreigners) used to bowing.
This is where I bathe.

One washer, no driers in Tokyo. You can only fit like half a load into this little thing, and then you have to hang everything up to dry. I am not going to like laundry day at all.