Our new apartment, part 1

 For the next couple of days I will show you pictures of the inside of our new apartment. After that I will move on to the neighborhood and other places that I visit. Right now we are having a thunder storm so outside pictures are out of the question.

 This is our bedroom. We used to have a large queen sized bed but this room is too small for it so we bought some Japanese versions of a German bed design. The slates are curved with an upward arc and each is individually adjustable. The mattresses are made from the new material that adjusts to your body shape. My bed is nearest the camera and it is the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on.

 Remaining in the same spot as when I took the first picture but turning to my left, I was now facing the entrance hall, the genkan in Japanese. The cabinet on the left is a very tall shoebox. The only problem is that my shoes are too big and have to be put in at an angle. Our daily newspaper is placed in the mailbox in the door, but our mail goes in a mailbox downstairs in the entrance hall to the building.

 Another quarter turn to the left and I was facing the bath. This is the dressing room that contains a sink and our washing machine. Last week we bought the shelves for the towels and I constructed it after it was delivered.

 This is the sink. It demonstrates how old the apartment is - a little over twenty years. The sink was designed as a place to wash long hair. This sort of sink has gone out of fashions, probably because people now wash their hair in the shower. The facet is a bit difficult to use. There are three knobs. You can see them in the right corner just above the drain The knob on the right controls the cold water, the one of the left the hot water, and the one in the middle the volume of water. One of the problems is that there is no surface on which to put things, so we bought the white plastic tray which seems to be working out well.

This shows me reflected in the mirror over the sink. Behind me is the bath.

 Turning around again, I could see directly into the bath. There is a second bracket high on the left wall so that the room can be used as a shower.

Tomorrow I will move on to the rest of the apartment. Later today my brother-in-law is going to drive us to Nittori, a large chain store selling furniture and household goods. I want to buy a desk for my computer. After that all we need is a gas stove, air conditioners, and an oven with a microwave.