Day 4

Thurs. 30 March, 7:16

Good Morning, Babies!

Another long posting for you!

This morning I woke up, under my sheet, doubled blanket and sleeping bag, to a stuffy, runny nose and a really cold house. How cold, you say? Why I’ll show you:

So much for it warming up today.

The neighbors are up. How can I tell, you say? Why, I can hear them opening their shutters. Here in Japan, where there is no insulation on the houses and apartment buildings, and where typhoons are prone to strike (especially further south and east), there are shutters that slide over. Some are metal, some are wooden. They are housed in a case next to the window and you simply open the window and pull them across the windows. They help to keep the house warm and to prevent the windows from breaking in the event of a typhoon. I like to leave mine closed as long as possible in the morning to keep as much heat in as possible. Not that there is any outside of my two main rooms: the kitchen and the tatami room which I have claimed as my bedroom. I keep the kitchen door closed so that I heat just the two rooms.

My house with shutters open

My house with shutters closed

I love my little house. I’m still getting used to not having to worry about making noise for the lady downstairs. I do feel guilty, though, because I’m only one, and in the house next door there are 5. Grandparents, parents, son. In the same size house. Right now I have two rooms that are basically empty, and they have all three packed to the gills.


Here is my kitchen, in all its cluttered glory. Notice my two extra lamps, the bags for recycling, my drying rack for clothes (will be moved to another room in the warmer months), etc. etc. And all my folks on the fridge!

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: my bedroom, AKA the tatami room.

Looking in - my "computer desk"

My neatly made bed and bedding.

Looking out. Check out the cool doors! That's glass, not paper.

I got it all purtied up for you. Actually, I have to keep it neat because of that big sliding door to the outside there. Granted, the bottom part is all fuzzy (I forget what they call that – tempered?), but should anyone care to look in, they could.

And finally, just so you believe that I’m actually here: