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!?!

Japan

So I'm off to Japan on the 25th July for a 12 month contract with the JET Programme.  Quite a few folk have asked me about it so for the curious amongst you here's a link to the JET Programmes website: http://www.jet-uk.org/

I'm pretty excited about going but also the uncertainty of it all is a bit unsettling.  I'll be living in a place called Kobe but it's pretty much an area of Osaka from a satellite view.  Osaka is 20 mins away on the train officially but I reckon in the near future Kobe, Osaka and Kyoto may merge into one big city much like Tokyo did.  I've learnt all there is about Kobe from Wikipedia (a font of reliable honest information - ahem, well... I like it).  1.5M peeps, 1200 U.S citizens and even less Britons so I'll stick out like a sore thumb, Kobe beef is something I'm gonna try, beach in Summer and I'm really hoping you can snowboard on the mountain at the back of Kobe in the winter (which is apparently unbelievably cold, oh and guess what the Japanese don't do central heating, or double glazing... uh oh) - all in all it looks ace tho and I think I'm really lucky to be going to such a cosmopolitan city.

Anyway this was really a test post - i'll try to do regular posts and upload some cool pics from time to time.  I'm also gonna post what I'm listening to so you not only get words but a visual and audio flavor of my time in Japan.  I'd love to hear from you all, so questions and comments are encouraged - help to keep me from missing you all too much aswell.

Right now I'm listening to We Were Promised Jetpacks - Quiet Little Voices.  I really like the lyrics and although it's a simple song it's very catchy and heartfelt.

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5ZhBAylbN4

Sayonara,

Bobb San x