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 2^nd 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!