７月６日（月）

I stayed in the house today and did some planning for my mom and friends when they come. It was raining all day, so I didn't miss much by not adventuring, anyway. Since I stayed in the house, you get to see some pictures of the little share house I'm renting!

What better place to start than the 玄関 (genkan, entryway)? On the left are some cabinets with slippers to wear in the house. As you can see the wood floor is elevated above the tile floor of the entryway. It's customary to leave your shoes on the tile and switch to slippers in the house. Japanese are pretty serious about keeping things cleanly.

This is facing in from the entryway. The little water closet is right ahead. There is also another pair of slippers inside that you wear only inside. Like I said: serious about cleanliness.
To the left is the...

台所 (daidokoro, kitchen)! On the table is my little water heater I use to make coffee in the mornings.

Hey baby, come to my place? I have a really big... sink.

Also some really hazardous-looking 階段 (kaidan, stairs), if you're into that.

My room! The futon was provided with the room and it's super comfy. On the other hand, the closet admittedly kind of freaks me out because I've watched too many Japanese horror movies. I keep half-expecting creepy little child ghosts to open it or something. The single sliding door goes to the stairs and faces a similar room across the landing.

I love 畳 (tatami) floors! But another rule is you don't even wear slippers on tatami floors, just socks. I think even bare feet is questionable, but I admittedly do it. Their care is pretty intensive. One day I would love to have tatami floors, but their upkeep is pretty intense. You have to pick them up, change out newspaper and other material underneath, and replace them other side-up somewhere between twice and four times a year, plus cleaning them with special cloths regularly.

Another thing I love is 障子 (shouji, paper sliding doors/windows).

There's the little cleaning shop run from the house across the way, and at the top of the frame you can see the pole where I hang my clothes out the window to dry.

Just for fun, here's the little room downstairs next to the entryway that I stayed in 2 years ago! The upstairs room is definitely more comfortable, but this room is 懐かしい (natsukashii, nostalgic) to me. Spent three months over the summer here. Did it ever get hot! At the time the エアコン (eakon, air conditioner) above the bed hadn't been installed, I was stuck with only a 扇風機 (senpuuki, electric fan) all summer.

Hope you enjoyed being introduced to my home-away-from-home. ^^