Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas from Japan!

James and I would like to wish you a very wonderful and blessed Christmas this year.  May it be filled with great friends and family, and may you make many splendid memories that you will treasure forever.  May your travels be safe and my God bless your day with happiness.  Sending our love from across the ocean! Always, Angela, James, and AJ

Thursday, December 23, 2010

And we chose….

House #5!

James and I chose house #5 due to its location.  The house is only a 3 minute drive from the front gate, which means James can easily ride his bike to work.  The convenience is perfect for us!  The home is beautiful, and was built in the last few years.  There are beautiful hard wood floors throughout, with the exception of the tatami room.  The house has three bedrooms upstairs, which means we can have an official guest room for all of our visitors!! (*HINT*HINT*)  As if you didn’t need another reason to come and visit us, you have to come and see the pink toilet upstairs!  Pink toilet…hello!! The master bedroom has a huge walk-in closet, and there is ample storage space throughout the house.  Not only does the home have a beautiful balcony, but there is a small backyard for AJ, complete with a Japanese maple tree and a cherry tree.  We should get beautiful fall colors and spring blooms to celebrate the changing of the seasons.  We are spending our Christmas moving into the new house, and I will definitely post pictures when we are all settled in.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

House Hunters International

After living on base for six months, James and I are ready for the adventure of living off base! This has always been our intentions, but we wanted to get to know the area before we committed to a house.  We love the adventure of living in Japan, but living on base makes us feel like we are just visiting, and we want to experience living in Japan.  So a few weeks ago, we began the official search for an off-base, Japanese home.  I felt like we were on House Hunters International, one of my favorite shows!

We looked at five houses before we found one that we fell in love with.  Honestly, we thought this was going to take us a few months, but then we found a house we couldn’t pass up!

Here’s a brief look at the houses we looked at.

House #1: This house was very cute from the outside, but was very small on the inside.   It was a three bedroom home, with hardwood floors throughout, and no tatami room.  It was about 15 minutes from base, and a wall needed to be repaired before we could move in.

House #2: This house was HUGE! It had four bedrooms, with a party deck on the roof with great views.  On a clear day, you could see Mt. Fuji.   The house was built in the 70s, and had a great deal of character.  This house also had a ton of storage, which is always a plus.  But, it was a little old, and needed some work.

House #3: This house was built only two years ago, and was very modern.  The kitchen was beautiful, and so was everything in it!  It had a video doorbell, so you could see who was at your door on a tv inside the house before you opened it.  There were two heated toilet seats, but not much storage space.

House #4:  This house was a beautiful three story home, about 20 minutes from base.  The home was full of upgrades, and was right next to a park.  There was a beautiful tatami room, heated toilet seats, and hardwood floors.  However, this house had a weird layout, where the living room would be on the 2nd floor.

House #5: This house was only a 3 minute drive from base, and was a modern Japanese home.  There was one tatami room, and hard wood floors throughout the rest of the home.  This house had one heated toilet seat, and a Japanese style oven.  It also had a small backyard in addition to the balcony.

So, did we choose…..

House #2 with lots of space and a great view.

House #3 with modern upgrades and a great kitchen.

House #5 with a short commute and a backyard.

Stay tuned to hear our decision!