Our Japanese Apartment

elias

Hello everyone, this is Elias,

Today we have a video you can watch which will show you our apartment, here it is

*if you have trouble viewing the above video, try this link https://teamhadjes.smugmug.com/Japan-2017-Blog/n-c8Sfvn?mobile=true

Here are some pictures of our apartment as well. The first one shows one of the drawers in our apartment, it has a lot of chopsticks to choose from.

The second picture shows our tatami mats that cover two of our rooms. The bedroom and living room floors are covered with these mats, they are made of straw and are a little soft but firm.

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9 thoughts on “Our Japanese Apartment”

  1. I had to watch twice to figure out for sure where you sleep, because I was interrupted with someone wanting to talk! I did notice that there was a lack of an OVEN! No cakes or cookies? Can see what’s important to Linda!! Fascinating that there are multiple pairs of slippers … even special slippers for the potty. How funny! Thanks for the tour!!

    1. There is a wee tiny oven that Hannah pulled out from under the double burner stove, it looks to be about the right size for toasting bread but not much more than that. When we have hosted Japanese exchange students they have enjoyed making chocolate chip cookies with us in our home. Elias really wants to save his money and buy himself a futon bed for the floor at home so he can sleep on that instead of his bed. He sleeps really well with this set up here. He’s planning a future ‘tiny home’ to build on some good bird watching property and he wants the flooring to be tatami.

    1. Yes, definitely lower. When Eddie stands in the doorways to walk into either of the tatami rooms his head hits the doorway if he doesn’t duck down. He’s 6ft 2in so we’d say the doorways are 6ft. The bathroom sink is lower as well and Eddie says the toilet is too. Honestly I haven’t noticed because everything feels ‘just right’ to me 😉

  3. We have to ask…..do you really change slippers every time you change rooms?! If you are putting on slippers when you enter the house, the house floor stays clean…why the need to constantly change them? And what about people who don’t fit the slippers provided? Although, I suppose large feet are probably not a problem in Japan. 😉 Does everyone have a set at every doorway? Or is there just a general pair that everyone uses? (everyone with the same size feet anyway)
    Thanks so much for the video kids! You did a great job and my girls love knowing where you’re living!!

    1. There are three types of slippers we have encountered so far- in the house, in the bathroom, on the back balcony. The tatami mats are a special surface so socked feet are best. Bathroom germs and outside germs are kept out of the house. In your own home you would have your own personal set of slippers but when you visit other homes then they will have a selection of ‘guest’ slippers in a variety of sizes. Eddie’s feet are often hanging out the back of his slippers 😉 What we ‘know’ to do is based off of what my uncle asked us to do when we stayed at his home last time, we are assuming they are universal customs. The apartment we are staying in came with a huge selection of slippers (in the slipper cabinet) and the additional slippers on the back porch. Our apartment is small and so you get the impression that every room required a slipper change but really you would be wearing your house slippers all over….except when getting laundry off the line, using the bathroom or if your home has a tatami mat room. Sometimes its hard to remember to switch slippers but we are catching ourselves and quickly getting into the habit.

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