So I got an email today from M:
"So after I sent that email to you yesterday I managed to finally organize a time to go and check out your apartment.
The first thing I can confirm is that you DON'T have to pay any key money... and like I've said before, the rent is 43,000yen a month.
The apartment itself is smaller than I would have chosen for you but it's clean and tidy and in a nice area. Your landlord actually owns a whole lot of apartments all within a few seconds walk from your place (including the building the other ALT S will be living in) and your landlord essentially lives right in your backyard... or should I say you live in his!
It's kind of hard to describe as it's not really like any apartment block I have ever seen in Japan before. There are 4 apartments in your block but all branch off an internal hallway (if you imagine a hotel hallway with all the doors coming off it). All the other apartments come off in a different direction to yours and each have tiny balconies for the sole purpose of a place to hang washing. Yours on the other hand has a much larger outdoor area as like I said your apartment is pretty much in the backyard of the landlord.
When you walk in your door from the main internal hallway which has all the apartment doors coming off it you enter into quite a large entrance/hallway area. To your left of the front door is a doorway to the bathroom/toilet. There is a shower room with a deep Japanese tub and a shower and then another room with the toilet as well as a sink/cabinet. Like all Japanese bathrooms it's incredibly small but perfectly fine for one person! For some strange reason the entrance way area has an air conditioning unit in it although I can't see why you would ever want to use it in this space!
There is then a door directly opposite the front door which leads though to the only other room in the apartment. Once you go through the door directly to your left is the kitchen. Again like all kitchens in Japan it is really small but totally adequate for one person. There is already a fridge there and a gas cooker so all you will need to buy are plates/cutlery etc which the 100yen store sells heaps of really nice ones so you can pick all this up for super cheap! You've had a lucky break with the microwave because it has actually just crapped out on us! They are easy to buy though and shouldn't cost you too much to buy a new one.
Directly behind the door is a couch... with the door open you wouldn't be able to sit on it but with the door closed it's fine. There is then a wall cabinet with a little breakfast bar and stools.
Take a few more steps and you have your bed. As far as beds go it's not great but the space is so small your pretty limited. If it was me I would probably ditch it once you get here and buy a futon... that way you can fold it away during the day to give yourself more space. To the left of the bed and all along the side of it are cupboards and a shelf which has a large tv, dvd player, some old tapes, a computer and printer as well as a few other bits and bobs. If you don't want to keep any of this stuff just talk to the landlord about it when you get here!
To the right of the bed is a large table with chairs. Because the table is so big it actually has to sit in front of a wardrobe which is built into the wall and along half the sliding door which lead to outside. It might be something you look to downsize on if you want more space!
The sliding door then leads out to the pool which all the other apartments also have access to via a slidng door in the internal hallway that all the apartments come off.... the pool is definitely NOT swimmable in its current state and I have no idea if it ever is or is just left.
There's quite a lot of storage in the apartment with lots of cupboards and drawers and comes fully equiped with lights and curtains. I forgot to mention that in the kitchen/lounge/bedroom area there is another air conditioning unit... it both cools and heats so in the winter you will be totally roasty toasty! You also get a covered car park.
Attached is a word document with all the photos and captions... I've also done a rough floor plan to help show you what it's like... not really to scale though!"
-- So yeah, me again. This is what my living arrangements will look like for the next year or so. Hopefully I don't have to lose half of my body mass to fit myself into the apartment and there will definitely be some renovating as I HATE pink. Don't know what I am going to do about the barbie sized fridge... might have to look into getting a new one. We shall see. Half this stuff is going in the garbage anyway most likely because I don't need most of it and I do need all the space I can get. Futon it is... gotta get rid of that bed. This is going to be an interesting experience... to say the least.
Don't think I'm being too negative, I just found out about this and it disappointed me a little is all. I am actually still very excited about the experience and hopefully the apartment is better than my first impression of it. Love.
