We crashed after we got in and slept most of the day.. seem to both be coming down with something – maybe you’ll see us donning white face masks soon. Didn’t manage to connect with Pierre but we met our landlord Mr Shrek, who is a nice guy and forgiving of our total lack of Japanese vocab. We’ve got him and one other couple for roommates right now, and two more people are moving in soon. After a nap we were thinking a little more clearly and…
I totally love this place!!! Our room in the Shrek Watta house is much larger than expected, with tatami floors, paper screen divider to the “semi-outside” area, then sliding door to a nice balcony. Two beds (soon to be one kingsize one), desk with two chairs, several low tables and a comfy beanbag chair. Every wall is sectioned into sliding storage areas; such a good design. The house itself is the 3rd and 4th floor of an apartment building and is kind of warren-like (a style I really like); a sort of mishmash of bits and angles with eight private rooms at various points. The shared livingroom is big and bright, with a library of anime and Kurasawa films from previous guests. Full kitchen and even a shared computer. Have I mentioned how incredibly good the wifi net connection is? All signs point to W00t.
We took a walk around the neighborhood. We’re right in the middle of a busy 2 block radius of restaurants, stores and real estate companies. There are coffee and drink vending machines on every corner, convienience store next door and a pachinko parlour just around the bend. NO CARS! The streets are narrow and filled with bikes and pedestrians. Yes, I could really live in this neighbourhood.
So we went for dinner which was also awesome. People have no hesitation at speaking Japanese to us which is so good, we’re totally going to learn the language in no time. So far we’ve got about as much as we knew in Thai, which is a good start at least. The food was so excellent, we were both rolling our eyes in constant total bliss. We’d really missed the subtle flavours, and this restaurant (just a minute’s walk away) was at least as good as any Japanese restaurant in Victoria. Also, about the same price – 4,000yen = $40cad to stuff ourselves full of (omg delish with fish) tempura, agedashi tofu, teriyaki fish, egg rolls and beer. Coupled with our $750 a month rent I think we could even afford to live here.
We stopped by the convienience store and bought some snacks and beer (Malt’s All Malt Beer). The beer came with a little package of nuts and the french consumme flavoured pringles came with a little keychain of the pringles guy in a french outfit. Gimicks YAY! Seems like the exact opposite of simple beach life but so far we’re grooving to the change.
PS: Malt’s is a good beer! We’ll let you know if we still think so after our beerbuds finish recovering from six months of Chang.
