The "this is where I live" post

I live in a fairly nondescript neighborhood in the outer suburbs of Tokyo, just outside the boundaries of Tokyo Prefecture. Let's have a look around!

This is the main street near my apartment. What a beautiful January day! The air is crisp and refreshing. This street, which is 300–400 m long, has, no exaggeration, at the very least five hair salons on it. I think the reason Japanese unemployment is so low is because of the sheer number of hairdresser jobs clearly available.


This is my local supermarket. "Tsurukame" (鶴亀 according to my computer) means crane-turtle. The shop is full of fish, octopus, squid, seaweed, lotus roots and so on, but is there any way to get long-grain rice or not-from-concentrate orange juice*? Oh no!

*I have found another shop that sells fresh orange juice at extortionate prices, but I still haven't resolved my long-grain rice problem.


This is a 100-yen shop, part and parcel of the urban and suburban landscape of Japan. They are misleadingly named because all of the items inside actually cost 105 yen. Here you can buy pretty much anything, from plates, cups, etc, to cleaning products, stationery, whistles, wasabi, and crap like sushi-shaped keyrings.


And Japan is a civilized country!


Across the street we have Mos Burger, Japan's answer to McDo. You might think of it as a Japanese Quick.


This is Family Mart, one of my two local convenience stores, or コンビニ (conbini). They are open 24/7 and you can go there to buy everyday items such as snacks, sake, mangas, contact lens solution, and so on, as well as to pay your bills, send mail etc.


That big apartment block on the right is where I live, as seen from the street we have been exploring so far with such verve and energy.


This is the local train station. On the express train it's just over 30 minutes to Ikebukuro, the rail hub in North-Western central Tokyo. Convenient!


This is my apartment block again, as pictured in an artfully disorientating photograph.


This is a more honest picture of my apartment block, as seen from the train station (see how near it is!). The big empty space in the foreground was a parking lot when I first arrived here, but I'm not sure what they're planning to put there now.


This is my other local conbini, sunKus. Interestingly, this is pronounced "sanks", which is as close as people get to "thanks" around here.


This is my bicycle. Her name is Carol Pastel. I didn't name her. She is made in China and has a durability of three years, according to the guy who sold her to me. Say hello to Carol everyone.


This is my floor. Let's go visit my apartment!


This is the view from my front door. Seiyu, you might have been wondering since it's popped up in a couple of pictures, is I guess a department store where you can get household appliances, clothes, and there's even a subterranean supermarket. Very conveniently located!


This is my living room.


This is the kitchen.


And here's my traditional-style Japanese bedroom, with my futon on which I repose nightly. There's also a bathroom, with a toilet called "Toto Washlet Apricot", which has a heated seat and will squirt water up at your ass should you so desire.


This is the view from the living room and the bedroom, towards the train station.


And this is a box of tissues. As you can see, the manufacturers of even the most mundane of products in this country feel imbued with a holistic sense of responsibility, which they never hesitate to share with users on their product's packaging. Just about everything you buy here has a little broken-English message for you, even the disposable chopsticks you get in a bar. Rest assured, examples shall follow.