The Show Must Go On: Spring

The house is still standing. We are safe and healthy though a bit stressed. These past 10 days have been a mixture of fear, grief, worry and hope. I’m not going to rehash what’s already been written in the media (nor comment on it).

What I will write is that according to what I’ve experienced these past few days in Kichijoji, is that things are going back to normal. There is bread, bottled water, toilet paper in the stores. And I managed to get a full tank of gasoline for the car today. So it appears that a certain amount of calm has taken hold.

Photos below are from yesterday at a popular park near our that is popular with young families with toddlers. A beautiful day to take your first steps or play ball with Dad.

The usual clients at Starbucks were happy to soak in the sun, not appearing to worry about all the nuclear radiation reports.

These are good signs. Hopefully there will be better signs to come from the government and nuclear agencies in the coming days. I think people are starting to process the barrage of information and situations (earthquake, tremors, tsunami, power outages, daily supply shortages, etc.) and begin to adjust to the point where it’s become their “new normal”.

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Lara and the kids went on early spring break on Wednesday to Fukuoka in Southern Japan, as the level of radiation increased in Tokyo and various incidents were happening simultaneously at the Fukushima nuclear plant. I have decided to stay for work as,according to government, levels are considered very low and do not pose a health risk.

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The more I think about the past week, the more I think this is a lot about Faith. Faith in the government, faith in the media, faith in your family, faith in nuclear experts, faith in your employer, faith in your community. Who do you believe? Who is right? What happens if any is wrong? On Tuesday, Lara and I decided to take the kids out of the event risk equation until we knew more. Thus Fukuoka.

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The initial plan are the family to come back this Wednesday. Better rested and better informed. After that, the next step is figuring out how we can help. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Nuclear reactors. We are undeterred. Kichijoji is our home. The show must go on.

Chapter 44 - cats adjusting just fine

Cade and ruby, our two cats are finely settling into their new digs. I think last night was the first time we managed to sleep without cursing their meowing. To be fair to Cade, it's really Ruby who is most vocal.

As you can see Cade has found his favorite spot.




Some other views of the semi formal living area.




Below is the family living where all five of us can pile in. A more casual area.




Some of Lara's ikebana in the gallery.




And where I'm blogging from right at this moment. ;). Cats are still spending the night with us at the foot of the bed.




One more week and we'll introduce them to their cat door.

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Chapter 43 - Shut the Door, have a seat

First post since we've moved in. Not sure if I can handle the pressure. About 80% unpacked. Not bad for first week.

So far the house is great and overall every thing we'd wished for. The most impressive thing from a functional point of view has been the insulation. It's fantastic! Our Ac units start at 6am and are on till 8. The heat rises to the second floor where it is very sunny in the morning. After 8 the heaters shut off and the heat from sunlight warms the house throughout the day. No more freezing hallways or floors!

Kitchen is a dream to clean. The miele dishwasher is super quiet.
And can't say enough about our washer and dryers. They are efficient like nothing else.

So anything we would change?
Well for starters, maybe I would have notified the internet company earlier about our move. But when your dealing with loans, packing, work, etc, the web takes a back seat as long as you have a reliable backup (thank you iPhone).

Other nice to have is having the walkway finished before move in. A compromise that will save us lots of money now though. Just have to be patient a couple of more weeks so we can plant grass in warmer weather.

The paint is great but kid finger smudges do happen. Just be ready for it. Remember that you can repaint it yourself later. We've realized that we can probably add a lot more color in the future even if we like as it is now.

Still lots of to dos for the next few months such as getting curtains and finishing the landscaping.

I will keep posting as we experience our design ideas further.


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Chapter 42–Video Walkthrough (T-minus 2)

We got the keys to the house!

The video will play in a separate window via youtube.

Chapter 41 – The Last Mile (T-Minus 4)

Here’s what my to do list has been like this week thus far:
Monday: Load car with bed to give away. Go to City to pick up certificates of residency, certificates for Seal stamp. Go to Bank at lunch time, fill out more paper work for 1 hour, convert USD to yen from overseas accounts, Call Internet Provider to give notice of move. Call Landlord to see if he wants to keep anything of ours. Drop off bed at friend’s house. Play hockey late night hockey (this is my reward).

Tuesday: Still trying to get hold of ISP. Transfer money from US to JP. Hopefully it will all arrive on time. Coordinate final site check visit. Add blog entry.

Saturday we had a preliminary site check where we nitpick about any scratches to walls or caulking that needs smoothing, mosquito screens that don’t slide easily, etc. There are quite a few little nicks here and there but our site manager was present and helped mark all the areas for fixing with little pieces of colored tape.

We really couldn’t to see how the lighting would turn out. I think the overall effect surpassed our expectations. I think Lara summed it best as “Pinch me, is this really happening? Is this really our home?”. Earlier in the day Kawata-san our site manager and Sakamoto-san our architect were standing outside in our bedroom garden and were looking at the house with air of pride. Kawata turned to me and said “This is great home. It’s rare that people take the time and energy these days to build something this beautiful.” And it struck me that they had invested much of themselves in this project as well. Nothing like appreciating a job well done.

Stay tuned for a video walk through for our next post.