Furnishing Not Included

I signed the contract for an apartment today. That makes me feel a bit better since it means that I won't be in the dingy little place that I am in now for much longer. The place that I signed the paperwork (yes, more forms) on is big (that has now become a relative term in my vocabulary) and bright. It has two rooms and a 1DK. 1DK means a medium sized dining-kitchen. One of the other rooms has a tatami mat floor which gives it a genuine Japanese feeling. The flooring is woven straw bordered with fabric. It is soft to walk on and looks very clean.

The area of rooms in Japanese accomodations are measured by how many tatami mats will cover the floor (regardless of whether there is actually tatami mats in there). So, the 1DK room is 10 jo (1 jo = 1 mat), the tatami room is 6 jo and the other room is 4.5 jo. My new phone came in handy with its conversion function that is in my phone's "lifekit". My boss was doing the conversion from jo to square meters while I was converting from metric to square feet. The apartment also has balcony and a large south facing window so it should make it a bit less depressing in the winter. There are two bathrooms - one with only a toilet and the other with the bath and shower - this is also typical of Japanese apartments and actually makes a lot of sense and takes up less room than western bathrooms.

Another interesting thing that I learned about Japanese apartments is that they rent them unfurnished. Yeah, yeah not surprising right...? Wrong! Unfurnished here means that there is no fridge, washer/dryer, tv, futon etc. etc. So, the next thing on the list is to try to find a good "recycle shop" where I can track down some reasonably priced used items. The alternative is to go pilfering on the large trash night (one night each month they put out all of their big trash for collection and this often includes furniture items that work fine but there just isn't room in their homes to keep it once a replacment is purchased).

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the apartments come without any of the necessary appliances. My "office" has also come without any of the things that we come to expect to be supplied for us in Canada. I am off to a 100 yen shop (=dollar store) to buy things like a stapler, paper, pens, folders and other necessary office supplies. They don't even supply a computer here, it is expected that each person buys their own. My "office" itself isn't really what I had expected either. I am at a tiny old desk with a broken bookshelf beside me, right beside the door and the lunch station in a room where 10 other grad students have their "offices". Now if only the 100 yen shop sold quiet and private work stations, I would be totally set!