First pictures of my wee hoosie

I got some pictures from my predecessor of the apartment I'll be moving into.  Thought I'd put them up for you all to see.  Here's the sunset from my apartment.  I'm just outside the city of Kobe up the side of a wooded mountain/hill - which means fresh air, bigger apartment and all the good things associated with living in the country.  But also Bugs and a 20 min ride on the train to downtown.

Here's my bathroom (with Japanese style top loading washing machine) and bedroom - with hardwood floor and a double bed, thank god!  I wasn't looking forward to sleeping on a single Futon for a year, I love a big bed plus it keeps me off the floor where there may be Mukade lurking occasionally! :o(  I have got a Futon tho so there's plenty of space to crash for those visiting.

Here's my kitchen, I don't think the Japanese really do ovens... You can see my balcony too

The last one is my sitting room.  In Japan they don't use feet and inches or even metric measurements for room sizes, instead they use Tatami mats which measure 2 x 1 meters each. My sitting room is 6 mats in size.  That's pretty big by Japanese standards apparently.

You have to walk barefoot or in socks on Tatami mats.  In other places indoors in Japan where there aren't Tatami mats you can war shoes or slippers but they can't be ones you wear outside. That means at school too!  So I'll have to travel to school in one pair and change into another when I'm there.  Apparently loads of teachers go to work in suits and ties and black smart shoes only to change into a pair of Nike running shoes that have never seen tarmac once they get there.

When you go to the toilet in a restaurant or pub there are toilet slippers to wear.  So picture this;

Arrive at pub, take off shoes, put on slippers, go into pub to drink, go to toilet, leave slippers outside toilet and change into toilet slippers, finish in toilet, change into slippers yada, yada, yada...

Walking back into a restaurant slightly boozy and sitting down still wearing your toilet slippers is a bit of a social faux pas apparently.  Hmm, bets on how long I last without breaking this one anyone!?!