Saturday, May 9th--Since returning from Okinawa, we have had a busy two days getting everything packed up and into suitcases as we prepare to return to America. We also have been trying to sell as much furniture as we can and quickly get rid of the other things that we are not going to take with us. Because of all of the souvenirs that we have purchased over the last 5 months, we thought for sure that we were going to have to ship quite a bit home. This was going to be very costly and so we packed and re-packed the luggage and surprisingly got it all in! Yeah! We are leaving some things here such as our pillows, sleeping bags, and towels. We had planned on this before we came here, though. It will be cheaper to buy new ones when we return to the states rather than ship some things from here to the U.S.
The real fun will begin when we have to get all 25 pieces of luggage, seven kids, and two adults through two train rides, two airplanes, customs, and then somehow fit all of the luggage and our family in our Excursion that will be waiting for us at the Salt Lake City airport.
It was quite the experience for us to find a place to live in Tokyo. We had a very hard time.
Because of the time difference, Ray was calling on places to rent in the middle of the night. Most people were friendly and willing to rent to us until they heard how many children we had. At that point, they would make an excuse and quickly end the conversation. We contacted some of the LDS bishops in Tokyo and one of them gave us the contact name of the realtor that his family had used when they moved to Japan a few years ago.
The realtor, Okubo san, was a God send! She has good contacts and within a few days had a few places for us to choose from. We had given her the budget of no more than 300,000 yen ($3,000) a month. Paying $3,000 a month for rent in middle America is enough to make you want to throw up, but in Tokyo, that's not considered very much to pay for rent every month. Because of our budget, Okubo san could only find places on the outskirts of Tokyo. This is what we were expecting. We didn't like the idea of living outside of Tokyo, because it would require a bigger commute for Ray to go to school and work, as well as for the family every time we needed to go somewhere. However, we knew that given our budget, more than likely we would be living outside of the city.
Because of our large family size, every landlord we dealt with asked for extremely large, non-refundable deposits (like $10,000). We simply didn't have the money nor were we willing to pay thousands of dollars for a deposit that would not be used to repair the home after we left. For crying out loud, we may have a lot of kids, but that doesn't mean that our kids are heathens! Okubo san had her work cut out for her finding us a place to rent. In the meantime, we all began to pray really hard, and even fasted a few times that we would be able to find a place that would accommodate us and be within our budget.
A ray of light came when Okubo san found us a house--we couldn't believe our luck! We assumed we would be living in an apartment; never did we think we would be able to find a house! The home was going to be 300,000 yen a month and was actually in the city of Tokyo. It had four bedrooms and a grocery store within walking distance. We couldn't believe our luck! We agreed to the terms and signed the contract.
But, it didn't take long for the deal to turn sour. The landlord began to complain that we had tricked him. He wanted to raise the rent to 320,000 yen a month. Not wanting to be seen as being dishonorable to him, we agreed and a new contract was issued. While we were in the process of signing it, he decided that he needed a bigger deposit. And, he also accused us of ripping him off and he wasn't sure if the new amount per month was even going to be enough. We were confused as to why he was acting this way and couldn't understand why he felt like we were ripping him off. Sensing that this landlord was going to be a problem for us during our stay, we severed the deal and once again were without a place to live.
By now, we didn't have much longer until we were scheduled to leave for Tokyo. Okubo san scrambled and through a miracle found us an apartment in the area of Hiroo for 250,000 yen a month. The apartment had three bedrooms, but was 2,000 sq. feet--much larger than we were expecting! The price and location were beyond our wildest hopes and dreams! This apartment was set in the heart of Tokyo and within walking distance to Ray's school, two metro stations (Ebisu and Hiroo), AND to the LDS Tokyo Temple! We couldn't believe our good luck in finding a place to rent so cheaply in this very area of Tokyo!! Truly, God's hand was in it.
We were told that some people from the Middle East had been living in this apartment, but they had moved before their lease was up. We would be taking over their lease, which ended on May 31st. We were scheduled to fly back to America on May 12th, so it was perfect. The landlord normally charges much more than 250,000 yen for rent, but given the short time period left on the lease, he was just planning on leaving it empty. Okubo san asked if he would be willing to allow us to live there for such a small amount per month and he decided that if that's all we could afford, it would be fine with him. It was better than leaving it empty and not receiving any rent at all.
In Japan, Americans are not known for being honest, and so the landlord asked that we pay the deposit and all five months' rent upfront. He assured us that we would get our deposit back if everything was in order after we moved out.
Once we had been in Tokyo for a few weeks, we began to understand why the landlord for the house we were trying to rent was acting the way he was. Most Americans who move to Tokyo are being transferred here by the corporations they work for or by the U.S. military. The corporations and the military pay the rent for their employees, and because of this, landlords have learned they can charge whatever they want and these corporations will pay it. Rent in Tokyo has skyrocketed as a result. The average rental fee in the area of Hiroo is 1,000,000 yen ($10,000) a month!! This is why the landlord was feeling ripped off....he assumed that because we were Americans, some corporation was paying our rental fee and he wasn't getting anywhere near 1,000,000 yen a month from us. If only he knew that we were paying for our rent in Tokyo with student loans!
The whole process of finding a place to live for a few short months in Tokyo with our family size and small budget was a frustrating process, but it worked out far better than we had hoped. With Okubo san's and God's help, we had found the PERFECT place in the best location that we could hope for!
Hiroo is a district of Shibuya. It is one of the more prominent residential and shopping neighborhoods in Tokyo. This painting is of Hiroo in the Edo period.
Hiroo contains several embassies. The boys walk past the Embassy of Germany every time they go to karate class. We also have the Embassy of China near the temple/church. It is interesting for us to be living in a place surrounded by so many embassies of other countries. Each embassy is designed beautifully and reflect that country's culture. (Interestingly, Logan and Chris went to the U.S. Embassy a few times because that's where their Cub Scout meetings were being held.)
Here is our building! Our address is: 14-27 Urban Hill Hiroo 2-Chome Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
This building has three apartments. Our apartment is on this side, facing west. There is another apartment on the east side and the third is on the top. The building is made from concrete and covered with gray tiles.
Notice the narrow roads that surround us. This is right in front of our house. We walk down to the end of this street to the Lawson's convenience store to get a few groceries or their out-of-this-world apple juice. This is also the way to Ebisu Station.
Our apartment has a covered parking lot for a car, but of course, we don't have one. Instead, we park our two bikes here. Caitlin can be seen with one that we bought for 1000 yen. It's a larger size child's bike, but we all use it. Our bishop loaned us an adult size bike that he wasn't using for Ray to use to go to school. These two bikes, our feet, and the metro is how we get around.
These glass doors are the entrance to our building. There is a lady that comes twice a week to clean the main areas of the building. She will sweep and mop this stone porch and steps, and we have even seen her mopping the street. She is a short, old lady....and the sweetest thing ever!
Once we go through the glass doors, we have to punch in a code on this intercom for the second set of doors to open. If someone is visiting us, they will push a button and a bell will ring in our apartment. There is an intercom in our apartment that we can use to talk to whomever is there and open the locked set of doors for them. Intercom systems like this are common in big cities in America, but is a new thing for us to deal with. To the left of the picture, you can see the mailboxes for the apartment. Our mailbox is the bottom one.
Tayla is standing right in the doorway of the second set of doors. From the inside, they will open automatically as we approach them, just like doors in American grocery stores. One night, we were laying in bed and could hear these doors opening and closing over and over. One of our neighbors had come home late and the doors were malfunctioning. Ray got dressed and went down and "fixed" them. The next morning was Sunday. We didn't make it to church, however. As we were getting ready to leave, we realized that Raymond's fix-it job had broken the doors and they wouldn't open at all! We were trapped in our apartment for a few hours until a repairman came and fixed these doors. Kind of funny.
Beyond Tayla, you can see the lobby area for the building.
Through the lobby window, you can see a small, outdoor garden. We all love this garden area. You can also see the stairs for the upstairs apartment.
Here is our apartment door. To the left of the door, the name "Raymond Boyer" is framed on the wall.
This is our genkan. Genkans are in all Japanese homes and many businesses. It is the place where one takes off their shoes in order to be able to enter the home. See that little step? That is the boundary for where shoes are no longer allowed. One must NOT step up and beyond that step with their shoes on. To do so would be to dishonor the person who lives in the home. We have always been a "no shoes in the house" family, so the genkan was not a new concept for us.
In some businesses, such as the post office and hotels, there is a genkan. The chiropractor that we have been seeing here also has us take off our shoes and offers us slippers to wear. It's a big part of the Japanese culture.
To the right of the genkan is the front room. We don't have a lot of furniture throughout the apartment, just some that Okubo san was able to find us for cheap. We paid $400 for all of the furniture that she was able to obtain for us. She had movers move it all in for us so it would be here when we arrived. As we prepare to move back the U.S., we have been able to sell most of it and get most of that $400 back.
This is the patio off of the front room. It is the only "backyard" that we have. Landscaped in a Japanese fashion, we really love it! The lantern will light at the flip of a switch.
Between the front room and the kitchen is the dining room.
This is where we had planned on doing our home school studies, but it didn't work out that way. I still have some of our homeschooling stuff up on the wall, anyway. Notice the ceiling....I love the ceilings in both the dining room and the front room.
Because of the way Japanese homes are built, we can't put a nail in the wall to hang things up. Instead, on the top of every wall there are runners with several hooks. We can only hang things with string or wire from these hooks. We have seen this in many homes in Tokyo.
This is the view of the wall the separates the genkan from the rest of the house.
Next, we have the kitchen! So small, but I've been told that it's spacious by Japanese standards. The oven is tiny, a cookie sheet wouldn't fit in it. It has its own built-in baking sheets. It also uses Celsius, so I have had to google a temperature conversion chart every time I use it. Many Japanese homes don't even have an oven, so we are pretty lucky to have it. Because of the high cost of electricity in Japan, ovens are rarely used. Just about every Japanese dish is made over a stove top and made quickly so as not to use too much gas or electricity.
Okubo san was able to find a microwave for us as well as a tea pot that plugs in to an outlet. We have used this tea pot A LOT to brew oolong or wheat tea in the evenings after we return from one of our adventures. It gives us piping hot tea within a minute. Love it.
Out of the kindness of her heart, Okubo san had put milk, juice, and eggs into the fridge and had some bread and cereal boxes on the counter waiting for us when we arrived. She also came by our first afternoon here and volunteered to take us to the grocery store in her car so we could get some groceries. Every time I have walked into this kitchen, I have remembered her thoughtfulness at having some breakfast items here for us to eat after we had traveled halfway around the world to get here.
Walking past the fridge and turning the corner, we have the rest of the kitchen, including the dishwasher and the washer and dryer. For a family of nine, this kitchen and laundry area is tight.
The washer and dryer are tiny. The washer can hold only two or three pairs of jeans at a time. Three adult size jeans is pushing it. Because of its small size, the washer is constantly going. We only use the dryer if we have to because it costs so much to run and it takes about two hours to dry a small load. We usually just hang our laundry to air dry. I REALLY miss our large capacity washer and dryer back in America!!!
Our garbage can is in this spot, also. It is interesting to note that we can only use clear plastic bags for garbage. And, there are no such things as garbage cans on the streets. When Ray was on his mission here (1994-96), a terrorist put some explosives into the garbage cans in a few metro stations. Since then, garbage cans for homes have been banned and people set out their garbage in clear garbage bags right onto the street. Sometimes, they will put a plastic mesh over it to prevent anything from blowing away. In spite of this, the city is as clean as a whistle.
It's in this laundry area that we have the intercom that buzzes if we have a visitor.
To the left of the genkan is the downstairs bathroom. It is a half bath with a "regular" toilet. This toilet has only been used in emergencies because the kids have been spoiled by the toilets upstairs. They complain that this toilet is "cold".
I took this picture standing in the genkan. To the left is the door for the half bath, to the right is the entrance to the kitchen. The upstairs is where all of the bedrooms are located.
The railing for the stairs is metal and Kirstin loves to bang on it because it makes a lot of noise. At the top of the stairs is a door with a gold handle. This is the door for a storage closet which Caitlin has sometimes used as her private bedroom.
This is the girls' room. Tayla, Audra, and sometimes Caitlin sleep in this room. They use the futons that are folded up in the corner and lay their sleeping bags on them. We brought sleeping bags instead of blankets and sheet because they were easier to bring here. Because of weight restrictions, we could bring so little here and had to be very picky about what we brought with us.
The girls have a door in their room that opens out to a small balcony. They have loved having a balcony attached to their room.
This is the boys' room. They, too, have a door out to the balcony that they share with the girls.
Instead of futons, the boys have two mattresses that they lay on the floor every night to put their sleeping bags on.
The view from the kids' balcony. Our neighbor has a really nice house with a beautiful fenced yard. He is very well off and even has a chauffer. The chauffer is very nice and we talk to him all the time. I think he is amused by us Americans with the endless amount of kids everywhere.
This is the kids' bathroom. The sink and toilet are separated by the bathing area with a glass window and door.
This is their electric toilet. It doesn't play music or make waterfall sounds, but it's pretty cool. The controls are mounted on the wall. The seat is heated. Once you have done your business, you can use the controls to spray yourself clean. Another button will blow dry your backside.
Audra had been potty trained for just a couple of weeks when we moved here. The boys thought it was hilarious to barge in on Audra when she was using the toilet and push some of the buttons. The water spray and the blow dryer scared her to death. She was so afraid to use this toilet! We had to teach her how to shut the toilet off. Whenever she needed to use the bathroom, she would rush in here and check to see if the green light was on. If it was, she would reach down and shut it off before getting on. If time was of the essence, I would just throw her on to avoid an accident. She would start screaming that the light was on, and I had to assure her that I would protect her and the toilet wouldn't spray her. Poor thing! To have to deal with all of the scary toilets and squatty potties that we find here after just getting potty trained!
Nathan really liked the water spray feature of this toilet, but because his body is so little, many times the toilet would spray behind him and get water everywhere. We had to ban him from the water spray.
This is the bathing area of the bathroom. The tub is deep. There is a drain in the floor, so if you want to bathe Japanese style, you can pull the shower head (which is on a hose) over and do so. The little kids have loved splashing to their hearts' content in this bathroom because they don't need to worry about getting water everywhere. When the tub drains, water comes up the drain on the floor into the rest of the room and so this whole area will be one big puddle. There is a step up into the rest of the bathroom, though, so the water stays contained. We just have to be careful not to leave any clothes on the floor of this part of the bathroom.
This is the master bedroom. We are spoiled, we have a bed instead of futons or mattresses on the floor. When we first got here, we converted one of the large suitcases into a crib of sorts for Kirstin. That worked well for a few weeks, but then she decided that it wasn't good enough and has been sleeping with us in our bed.
It's not the most comfortable bed ever, but we are grateful for it. We even share it with the kids quite a bit, as you can see!
We have a large window in our room that lets in a lot of sunlight every day. This spot has become the favorite place for the kids and I to work on their school work together. The school bins are in the corner, one for each school kid. We will scatter ourselves all over the carpet on the mornings that we do school and soak in the warmth from the sun streaming in.
We, too, have a balcony attached to our room. Usually, it has laundry hanging to air dry all over it.
The first time I opened the curtains to the window next to the balcony, I let out a gasp. There is an old temple across the street that has since been converted into a home. We have only ever seen one person come out of this house. There is a fence all around it and the gate has only ever been unlocked once in the whole time we have been here. The buildings are old and traditional Japanese in architectural style. They have tile roofs. The trees are always trimmed well and there were some spectacular plum blossoms on several of them in February. It's a mysterious, beautiful home and we would love to learn more about the history of it.
There is a small hall in the master bedroom that leads to the walk-in closet and bathroom.
The walk-in closet is large and really nice! We planned on storing our clothes in our suitcases for the entire time that we were here, but each bedroom has closets full of these wire bins that we have used in place of dressers. They have been really nice for all of us to use.
Behold, the master bathroom.
The bathing area is more open when compared to the kids' bathroom. The tub is wide and deep and really nice for soaking. The square between the tub and the toilet is the drain in the floor, so you can shower Japanese style here, too, if you want to. I'm not sure if showering Japanese style in this area was well thought out, though, because you would have to shower right next to the toilet and that's kind of gross.
Whenever we use the tub, the water will also drain out of the tub and come up through the floor drain and flood this area. The water stays contained, but it's kind of gross because the toilet is set in this bathing area. I have to clean this floor almost every day or else we get mold on the floor around the toilet. It's kind of irritating.
We also have an electric toilet, with the same control options as the kids' toilet. It was a little weird sitting on a heated seat at first. Our first thought was, "Gross! Someone just sat here and the seat is still warm from them!" But, after awhile, we got used to it. Then, using the toilet downstairs would jolt us because the seat was cold!
In both upstairs bathrooms and near the kitchen sink downstairs we have these controls mounted on the wall. In order to get hot water, we have to push some buttons on this control panel. For the bathrooms, these controls also monitor how long we are using hot water. This little thing is my enemy because it beeps at me every time I'm taking a shower to let me know that I've been in too long and I'm using too much hot water. So annoying. It's all in the name of preserving electricity.
We have enjoyed our apartment! We really like the lay out and some of its features such as the balconies. It is considered to be a Western-style apartment, but to us it seems to have enough Japanese elements that we feel like its not wholly Western.
We didn't have to clean it super well in order to get our deposit back because this building is being torn down in July 2015. Built in 1992, the kitchen and bathrooms are in need of updating. The landlord has decided that it is going to be more economical for him to tear down and build new rather than spend the money to remodel. In anticipation of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games that is going to be held here in Tokyo, he knows that he can charge much more to rent this place out during the Games if the building is new rather than just remodeled. It makes us sad to know that the apartment that we have enjoyed and created many memories in is going to be demolished.
