Here's a description and photos of my apartment, to start. Sorry if the formatting is weird. Probably it's more pictures of my little apartment than necessary, but I imagine some of you aren't familiar with Japanese apartments.
I'm living in a little teacher's apartment in Usami. I'm lucky that it's fully furnished -- everything that's been left by untold numbers of JETs is mine to keep (some JETs aren't so lucky -- my predecessor didn't try to charge me for anything, but some people I know had to buy the used things or start from scratch completely).
Here's my front door, complete with peep hole and safety chain.
Of course, you have to remove your shoes when you come in.
These shelves face the door, and are filled with random books and papers. Surprisingly, I have more storage space than I need (so far).
To the right, when you first come in, is the toilet (separate from the bathroom)
It's... basically a closet with a window. You might be able to see that there's a faucet on the back of the toilet. It runs automatically when you flush, so you can wash your hands. Those aren't actually my shells and glass bulbs in the basin, nor did I buy that fuzzy toilet cover, but I've been much too lazy to worry about redecorating my toilet closet.
The space beside the bathroom just has a window, and a pile of the junk that I can only recycle on specific days. Obviously, I forgot the time or two when I was supposed to recycle my plastic bottles.... There's also a hatch on the floor that I can open for my "basement." It's just kind of a cement pit with some old junk it from ALTs past. I keep my luggage in it, but am too scared of a big spider corpse to try and clean the old stuff out.
To the left when you come in (to the left of the shelving) is the door to the actual bathroom. There's a vanity and the washing machine, then a divided section with the shower and bathtub. (That whole section is a big shower stall with a tub in it.)
Further to the left is the kitchen (which has sliding doors to separate it from the entry area). It's a lot bigger than expected, with an almost-full sized refrigerator, table, microwave, toaster oven, etc. Thanks to the past ALTs, I will never be left without enough cups, bowls or plates. I could host a large dinner party, if only I could fit a large number of people in my apartment.
On the left of the kitchen (if you're facing into the kitchen, toward the balcony) is the living room / bedroom. It's tatami. There are closets on one side, the windows to the balcony on the other. I can close it off completely from the kitchen with the sliding doors, or have it half open. There's a little couch, which actually can be pulled out and used as a bed, but I still roll out a futon (kept in the closet) and sleep in the middle of the floor. I spend most of my time using the computer, sitting on my fold-able chair. The TV has a working VCR, but can't pick up any of the over-the-air channels.
Overall, I really like the apartment. Not great for hosting guests maybe, but it's easier to keep clean than something bigger and/or older might be (it's a somewhat new building, maybe built within ten or fifteen years?). It's also pretty easy to cool down with my little air conditioning unit.
Next time, more photos from around the city and my school. Hope everything is well overseas.
