Typical Japanese Apartments: What To Expect.

Japanese apartment blocks tend to be owned by one person-slightly like in Briatin, though the landlord is more likely to take a lot more pride in the building and acually live on the top floor themselves kind of like some kind of penthouse footballer looking down over his empire.

The landlord usually owns the whole building, not just the prime position on the top floor. Here is an example of a Japanese apartment block-unfortunately you can't see it from this angle but it has the owner's name emblazoned on the side in massive katakana letters, like a big ship floating at sea (my apartment block-pink and white on the right side)....



Again, as I frequently found, my expectations had adjusted themselves to stereotypes (though I tried not to let them to) and I had osme image of a cramped, earthquake-swaying apartment space in my head. Therefore, the first surprise in store for me was the size- my apartment had more than enough room for one person, and good enough for having guests over to stay (which I did quite regularly-sometimes for weeks at a time). I had a walk-in closet, a small 'genkan' (hallway where you leave your shoes) and a walk in shower room, the inside of which was just a massive plastic fixture, watertight and great for making a mess in. The bath, however, may annoy your average Westerner, being very tall, but exceptionally short. Nice for a vertically challenged girl like me-I had no complaints about the bath. Except sometimes I filled it too high and almost cause a tsunami when I plonked myself in it...


Another great thing which I didn't know before I set foot in the place was that it had a BALCONY!! Woohoo!! Great surprise number two. Over the year, I didn't use it as much as I would have liked to, as it was quite small, noisy and a party ground for mosquitos in the summer, but, in Britain having a balcony is an abnormal privelage and reserved for people with a certain amount of cash.

In Japan, and other Asian countries I visited, such as Korea and China, having a balcony is as common as drinking water. In fact, the image of clothes strung out to dry across a balcony is almost synomymous with the East. When I think back over my travels-I can't seperate the two in my head.

Here is the view from my balcony....



NAH just kidding, this is it...



Har! Seriously, this time....



Not so bad, I always thought. Though, being near to the urban expressway (roads built over roads because of the volume of traffic which end up looking like a network of dusty, tangled legs) everything got FILTHY so quickly, (including washing) and no amount of attacking it with a brush and buckets of water would solve the problem.

Japanese toilets also seem to amaze people when they first encounter them (especially men, who are so fussy about luxorious toilets...wimps...) but I think this is the sheer gadgetry which seduces you at first. They have heated seats (if you turn them on far enough in advance)



In the end, I decided that I didn't really like these toilets at all. They're supposed to reduce the use of toilet paper, but it doesn't work like that at all, because you generally still use paper anyway. Plus,the only time when a heated seat is any good, on cold winter mornings, they take so long to heat anyway that I'm onto breakfast and out the door by the time they've warmed up. Plus, most people, including kidergarten teachers, just leave them on permanently. So, energy saving, my a%$e.... they are really there for the gadgetry.

The floors in Japanese apartments are always laminated wood. Maybe some people will have rugs over the majority of their floor, but, the floors will generally always be wooden. I did like my floor, dust and dirt just accumulate in drifts, making them easy to vaccum, and you can slide around on your socks at any time, always great a celebration when you receive good news. I used to polish mine up really well so that you could get a rug and slide right across he room-I did this for my apartment inspection, to give the inspectooors a little addd extra...

Bad points were that they carry echoes (so your neighbours get disturbed by your noisy habits) and if you sneakly slip up on the shoe rule, the floor marks quite easily...there were many times when I came home after a few too many and forgot to take off my heels...big mistake....

Something else noteably different is the use of electric stoves instead of gas, because of eathquake risks, and therefore, whistly kettles. I'm sure you can buy plug-in kettles, and there were extra sockets in my kitchen, but steam-operated ones which whistle seem to be quite popular. I did become quite fond of mine in the end, and it made me amazed when I got back home that the kettle boiled in under five minutes...bonus discovery...expectations lowered! I als used to play a little game, if I was busy when the kettle gave off it's feeble prelimiary whistle, I'd wait and see how long I could leave it befoere it broke out into an ear-shattering scream...kind of like chicken, but aged 24, and with a whistly kettle.

In the kitchen, everything was pretty much as it was except for the lack of hobs (one hob!) the whistly kettle and, of course, the OVEN SITAUTION! Nobody in Japan seems to own an oven bigger than, at best, a hamster cage. This is likely to be because of the gas situation again, but it's frustartaing for someone who loves a good cook up over a lovely blue flame.

I had one hob and a small microwave perched on the top of my fridge for cooking with. This is partly why eating out or buying a bento (see bento post...) is not only cheaper most of the time, but a lot more convenient. This is a pity, because I met a lot of people who liked to cook in Japan-especially bakery products, which are immensely popular.

Some of my students mothers, for example, used to bring me and my partner teachers bags of cookies or cake they had cooked themselves, and tasted (and were wrapped) like department store counter sweets. I'd love let some of those people in front of an Aga in a massive countryside kitchen with all the raw materials they needed to cook up a hurricane. I'll bet they'd beat Gordon Ramsays ass-if only they had the ovens to do it with...

On another little side subject, the things above are proved by the presence of these in the larger shopping malls....



There are two ABC cooking studios in Kokura-one in the Riverwalk shopping mall on the 4th floor, and one on the top floor of the Isetan department store. They were alwasy really busy whenever I passed them.

Anyway, back to my apartment. Another point worth mentioning which is quite a contrast to the West was the level of care the landlord took over absolutely everything. he was responsilbe for finding new tennants, so (unlike here when you deal with stoic Estate Agents), he cared whether or not your apartment was in a decent state when you left, and, as long as you were honest about things you may have damaged, he seemed to be a reasonable man on this point.

One of my fellow teachers had made a fist-shaped hole in his wall, and, though everyone (maybe including himself) thought he was gonna fry for it, the landlord apparently giggled when he explained how it had happened (in sign language, of course...) and said he'd repair it quite easily. I suppose we had the advantage of having our company deal with our accomodation, however, as some expats tell nightmare stories of the dreaded 'Key money' situation and being not too well favoured as a Western neighbour by other dubious residents.

See here... http://forum.japantoday.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=947110&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Or here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_money

So, stay on the right side of your landlord (this goes for pretty much anyone in Japan...collegaues, acquaintances, the little old lady in the shop..) and you shouldn't get any trouble.

Though nobody was officially named (although if you asked the boss after a few he'd cover his ass with the trial and error game so he didnt actually say it out loud..."Was it Johnny?" "Nooo,"/"Was it Jenny?" "Nooo"..."Was it Paul?"...*Silence*) there was a time when I first moved in that an unsatisfactory Email was sent around...

Can you all make sure that you put out your rubbish as stated below, in the right bags (which you buy from a convenience store).

Mr (Landlord's name) doesn’t seem too happy with people putting their rubbish out any old how.

Thanks a lot

(Bosses name)

The photos attached show how to separate your rubbish and do your recycling in Japan...

There are colour coded bags for everything, and while this was sometimes a pain, it is actually a really good thing, and not difficult to adjust to. The Japanese over-package SO much (there are plastic wrappers over plastic containers of pocket MINTS for God's sake!) and I was always shocked by how quickly I filled up the green bags (for plastic wrapping) with food packaging.

On a proud note, Kitakyushu is supposed to be a pioneering city of waste disposal, since getting a poor name for itself as an ugly industrial eyesore in the sixties before cleaning up its act...

http://www.city.kitakyushu.jp/pcp_portal/PortalServlet;jsessionid=FFFAC55B8A6BF057480
ED2C04B31F889?DISPLAY_ID=DIRECT&NEXT_DISPLAY_ID=U000004&
CONTENTS_ID=14935

The only thing missing from all of this stringent recycling organisation is PAPER. There is no home paper recycling facility, which would be useful for the massive volume of junk mail which accumulates in your mailbox on a daily basis (it has to be seen to be believed). Ah well, we all have an achillies heel...

Anyway, thank you for reading this little snippet on Japanese apartment from the point of view of a wide eyed not so fresh faced Twenty something Northerner-I hope it is of some use in some shape or form.