A Sense of Place
It has now been 116 days since we arrived in Japan. Since then the sweltering Japanese Summer has given way to a much welcome cooler and drier Autumn, we've settled into our place and have been slowly acclimating to our environment and Japan in general. So, what's it been like so far? We moved into our apartment in Sakae-ku, Kosugaya, 1 Chome on 21 July. The building in which we live is a mid-Showa era (1925 - 1989) building called a 'danshi' or a tower block, the exterior decor of which I have jokingly referred to as either 'prison block' or 'Soviet-era' chic. Cell Block 14 Our apartment is on the 14th of 15-floors and has east-facing windows that afford us a nice view of Kosugaya, the name of the area in which we live. Though our apartment is only 45 square meters (~480 square feet) it is well-appointed and comfortable for us. Our home is also well located; the train station and bus stop are across the street, and there are two supermarkets, a bakery...