My Room and Mama Chari

My newest bike is just OK. My last bike I found in the trash was one of those foldable bikes but was rusty as hell and squeaked very loudly, crying out for oil and lube. Yet its cries went unheard. And on a cool September evening, she was stolen. Just like that...gone. SO I ad o buy a bike. I went to a used bike store and said the word for cheap in Japanese. She kept pointing to a nice bike and I kept pointing to a rusty old one. I got it for 4000 yen. IT came with a light (which broke 1 week later) and a sweet basket in front and one for my child. It’s a sweet mama-chari. I asked some girls walking home from school the other day if it was cool and they all laughed and said no. Shows there taste in bikes. Ha! Oh and you can hear the brakes being applied in the next town. Its nice cuz I don’t have to ring my bell, just use the brakes.



My room is nice. Its really nice for Japanese standards and is even nice for American standards. Its only 2 years old and all the appliances are just like new. I have a small fridge and freezer. The stove is magnetic which means you have to use a pot that says IH on it and is steel or at least will make a magnet stick to it. IT boils water in less than a minute. Very impressive. My showerrd. It’s a whole room. You close the door and shower in the room part then you would technically step into the tub. I think baths are gross and I don’t like them, so I have never stepped foot into. You just hit a button on the wall and within a minute your gas heats the water. You can even preset the temp and when the tub reaches it, it beeps. I like the idea behind this shower set up. Once out of the shower there are a set of buttons. One is to preheat the shower with warm air before you take one. One ventilates the room so no mold grows. One will dry and clothes hung up in their and one is just for basic room ventilation.

I have a small washer but its quite smart. You can do any size of laundry with it. And you any type of laundry too. I don’t have a dryer, but I am already used to hanging my clothes out on the rack on the patio or in the room. Doesn’t always dry though as its humid. I have a bathroom sink and a medicine cabinet.

I havent filled even half of my cupboards or closet space as I don’t have anything. I have an OK twin bed. (I can sometimes feel springs popping through) but I sleep well. I have a fax machine and phone I have to pay for and have never picked up. About 34$ a month too! To get even I steal my internet through someones wi-fi connection. It only works about 70% of the time but beats paying. One other cool thing is that if someone were to actually visit me (ya right) they ring my bell outside and their face will come onto a screen in my wall and I can talk to them and OK their entrance. Same with my front door. And my AC is remote controlled and cools the place down very fast. Japan is weird. They are ahead of us in some things and behind in others. I don’t have a garbage disposal and have to clean the screen out every night. Anyways..it’s a nice lil place At least for 10,000yen it is. Oh and I don’t take off my shoes in my room ever and im the only one(but don’t tell anyone).