Hario has townhouses (which all appear to be one-story) and high-rise apartment buildings. Which one you get depends on your rank, then number of bedrooms you need/are entitled to and of course, availability. There was a waiting list for us to get a townhouse of a few months so we chose an apartment. We live in a three-bedroom apartment in Ayame Tower. ("Ayame" is Japanese for "Iris." All the other towers--Ume, Bara, Sakura, Kiku--are flower names too.) All the towers are shaped like a cross when looking from an aerial view and ours has six floors while some of the others are taller.
The inside is totally industrial--both the apartment and the interior hallways. In fact, I feel like I am in an office building. There is not an inch of carpet and I am sure that is because of the intense rainy season/pervasive humidity here. It is one giant petri dish of mold and mildew here if you leave standing water or wet, damp things lying around. One day there was a nice breeze out so we decided to open our windows to air out the apartment (the A/C is going 24/7) and it wasn't long before we had condensation on the floors. But I digress...
Our hallway on our floor.
Our front door
The whole place reminds me of when I visited Jodi Lackey a long time ago in Atlanta when she lived in an apartment that was converted from an old high school. I will say this: the industrial motif, as sterile and empty as it looks works great on the noise factor. We haven't heard any neighbors from inside our apartment and our next-door neighbors have a 10-month old baby. No footsteps on the ceiling and (Vanessa would appreciate this) I am not awakened by a neighbor's noisy alarm clock like I often was in our two-bedroom Belleair Pines apartment. So I deal with the industrial look of my new home.
I don't know what the square footage of our place is--Matt took care of the apartment business the week before we arrived in Japan--but it's obviously smaller than our townhouse in Virginia. We were prepared for this and I tried to put as many things in storage as I thought I could. I know our furniture will have no problems fitting because we don't have a lot and the furniture we have, including the couch, is small by design. It's all the stuff that is going to be the puzzle. There are good closets and cabinets so I think I'll find a place for everything. It just may be a little unconventional for some items.
When you first walk in our front door there is a coat closet on the right. That's the extent of our entryway and I will miss having our shoe bench which might have to be placed in said closet. Once past the entryway there is a small laundry room on the right and a kitchen on the left.
I've already started hanging the 3M hooks for my various Swiffers.
The cabinets are nicer than any of the places we have lived
before, including the homes we have owned.
before, including the homes we have owned.
The microwave is on loan from the Housing dept.
There is even a pantry (but it would be better with another shelf or two).
Once you get past the kitchen/laundry room area it opens up to the living room/dining room area. The living room is on the right and the dining room is on the left.
Don't you just love our loaner furniture?
The sliding glass doors from the dining room lead to a very narrow lanai/balcony. All the balconies have netting over them. Matt said he heard it is not to protect people from falling off the balconies but to keep out birds. I don't know if that is true but I'm happy to have it. I let Leah and Aaron play with their water toys on the balcony and I don't have to worry about them.
View from our balcony.
I can't remember who gave us this Coleman Road Trip grill as a wedding present but
thank-you. Our big gas grill would never have fit comfortably on our tiny balcony.
thank-you. Our big gas grill would never have fit comfortably on our tiny balcony.
After the living room/dining room, there is a hall leading to the bedrooms. There is a general-purpose closet on the right along with a bathroom and the kids' bedrooms on the left. At the end of the hall is a linen closet and then the master bedroom/bath. The master bedroom also has a lanai/balcony. It is shorter but wider and it is here that I have started putting my sweater racks to dry the clothes that shouldn't go in the dryer.
General-purpose hall closet
Aaron's room
Aaron has a closet bigger than his room in VA.
All the bedrooms have a big dome light...
...with built-in night light feature. (Hard to convey
in the photo but it's great for the kids.)
in the photo but it's great for the kids.)
Leah's room.
Leah gets two closets.
Leah likes to use her second closet as her "Thoughtful Spot."
The kids' bathroom
It's hard to gauge how tall the bathtub is...
...until you see the kids in it.
By the way, all the toilets have these symbols on the flusher and while we figured out one was for pee and the other was for poop, we didn't know which was for which. It took some trial-and-error but we got it. (In case you ever visit Japan, down for #1, up for #2.)
Linen closet. (Just like the pantry with wasted vertical space.
Needs one or two more adjustable shelves.)
Needs one or two more adjustable shelves.)
Master bedroom
I think we're getting the shaft on the closets compared to our house in VA
after we put in the closet organizer. I'll have to see once our clothes arrive.
after we put in the closet organizer. I'll have to see once our clothes arrive.
The view from the master bedroom lanai/balcony has both
the mountain and the parking garage.
the mountain and the parking garage.
Master bath has a shower stall.
This is definitely bigger than if we went out and lived in a Japanese apartment. Also, because this is US military housing, the outlets/electrical wiring is/are all standard to the US so no plug adapters or converters to worry about with all our electronics, etc. It's an interesting mixture between Japanese and American with some things just like home and others like you would find anywhere you go in Japan (i.e. the flusher, the sideways toggle light switches, etc.). And as ugly as it is (and it is very ugly!) it's nice to have loaner furniture so we don't have to sleep on air mattresses and eat off of our Crate and Barrel sit-on-the-ground portable beach table for 4-6 weeks. It took five weeks for our "Express" shipment to travel from VA to Japan so I'm kind of thinking the same thing for our HHG shipment. I hope that is the case. Matt is going to be deployed mid-August and I am praying that our stuff gets here beforehand so I don't have to deal with movers all by myself (again) but I am not holding my breath. I'll have to take pictures once we are all moved in and everything has a home to see if it looks that different.
Oh, I almost forgot: across the hall is a storage room for us and two other apartments.
Every apartment gets a "cage"
I hope all my holiday decoration bins fit! :-)
As you can see, it's no Ritz Carlton but everyone is welcome to visit just the same!
OMG! That furniture reminds me of stuff we had at my parents house when I was growing up!! Might be ugly, but as you said, at least it's something! I hope you get the rest of your stuff before Matt leaves!!
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