Life goes on…
A week or so ago, I wrote about a minor housing emergency. The update is that my friend spoke to the housing agent and the landlady that very day, and they gave me permission to stay until the day I told them I would leave ie April 25th. Of course, I had all intention of staying until my friend got back from Moscow in September, and only said “April 25th” because they looked extremely pissed, and I figured since I was leaving for home for a week on that day… eh, quick thinking under panic conditions.
My friend of course wants me to stay the whole time (since she’s getting rent), and I of course want to stay, since this arrangement not only let me stay in a nice place for cheap, it also allows me to defer cash outlay for both contracting into a place and buying everything necessary, such as bedding, washing machine, fridge etc etc. This could easily have run me 400,000yen, money which I certainly do not have at the moment.
Ah well, all good things must come to and end. This one happened a bit prematurely, but in the end one copes. I have since gone to look at seven places, and decided on one today, almost immediately. Rent at 65,000yen was cheap, place at 21.45 sq m was pretty big by Japanese standards, it’s near Tokyo University and nearer to work than my current place. The place is really old (the floor plan didn’t even have the date of construction!) but it’s a second floor corner room and the inside is in decent condition. Got just about everything I need, although it would be very cold in winter (just like my old place), I’d probably hear the neighbours (just like my old place), and if a big earthquake every happened I’d be buried in a pile of matchsticks (just like my old place…).
The “complex” is basically a line of 2 storey houses joined together, or one long house partitioned into rooms, if you want to think of it that way. When I went to look, there was a woman coming out of one of the 1F rooms, and she helped us find the 2F room I was supposed to look at. She was very very very friendly, but in a nice way, and a little old lady lives under my apartment. The place is very quiet, very quaint. You can’t find something like this is Tokyo anymore, except in Bunkyo-Ku and some shitamachi parts where old houses are still left over from the incessant march of development.
I’m pretty happy with my pick. I had seen something earlier, for 73,000yen, which was quite spacious (um, 22 sq m) and in a quiet neighbourhood as a 2F in a standalone house, also another place for 72,000yen about 2 mins walk from work (scary, eh?). But this one, price was right. Guess it helps to be a little enamoured with “traditional Japanese-ness”. No young working single woman in her right mind would choose such an old-fashioned run-down block. Me, I think it’s the most atmospheric place I’ve seen aside from that massive house with the black shingles next to my office.
2 Responses to “Life goes on…”
God. Don’t know how to tell you this but I’m currently living in an apartment that is 93 sq/m with air conditioning, underground parking and 2 bathrooms for CAN$900 which is like…77k yen. If that’s “large” AND a good deal then I guess what they say about Japanese housing arrangments must be true. But of course you ARE living in Japan :)
By GUTB on Apr 22, 2005
Well, the outrageous state of affairs really only applies to Tokyo and the area between Yokohama and Tokyo. If you’re willing to commute an hour into Tokyo, you’d probably be able to find something at least half again the size for that price – still not pretty, but not unreasonable for a metropolitan area either.
Anyway, I’m back in Singapore to process my visa application, and my bedroom here is bigger than my apartment in Tokyo. Plus, you can get a maid to clean the place for like $10 an hour. My family thinks I’m nuts for choosing a shoebox lifestyle over the decadent comfort of Southeast Asia. I just mutter something about how Tokyo offers more opportunities. Such is the life of an otaku.
By No Make Girl on Apr 26, 2005