Bending and flexing into our Japanese home

We’ve been watching quite a bit of the Olympics between other things. We watched both the men’s and women’s pole vaulting and they were amazing competitions for different reasons. The flexibility and balance of these athletes as they fly through the air is amazing. I feel like fitting oneself into a new living space in Japan also means a lot of flexibility and balance, though certainly not while flying through the air, although sometimes I have to admit that it does feel a little bit like we’ve lost all contact with solid ground.

There’s something odd about changing houses in Japan, it’s different to moving in Australia. I don’t know if Japanese people find this, or if it’s exclusive to foreigners (I suspect it’s somewhat universal, simply because of the multiple things you can buy to help…keep reading and I’ll show you some). You could say it’s related to small houses, but even places that are larger have their “oddities.” It seems you need creativity to make them into efficient spaces to live. Things that we take for granted in many Australian home aren’t always present, like rails to hold towels.

Last year one of our colleagues wrote a little about this aspect of life in Japan on her blog: https://memoirsofamissionarymom.blogspot.com/2023/08/trash-and-treasures.html?m=1

I love floor plans, it helps me (better than a video tour) to get a vision of how an apartment or house is laid out. Below is my English version of our house plan. I traced it from the Japanese one we have and added how we’re using spaces. So I'll put it here for you to refer to as I talk about various spaces (with photos).

We don’t really have a name for the area to the left of the word "dining". It has bookshelves in it, but no chairs, so not a library. Maybe it’s best called a multifunctional living area, as it could be an extension of the lounge or the dining area when we have guests. It’s the area we have recently stored boxes yet to be emptied, large rubbish (a disassembled desk), wall pictures yet to be hung, and empty boxes waiting to go to new homes or be thrown away. We also assembled our new furniture there yesterday.

For perspective, the lounge room, as depicted here, is 2.5 x 3.5 m. The toilet is cosy. I can touch both walls with my elbows while sitting on the pedestal. I can also easily, with my hands, touch the door and the back wall while standing.

The kitchen is very small, mostly just a sink, a stove top, and a narrow bench between the two that is 64 cm deep and 34 wide, with cupboards under it all and very high small cupboards above the sink. So we’ve had to get creative. This bookshelf has been our temporary pantry and place to hold plates and plastics. Yesterday we had three pieces of new furniture arrive, but the bookshelf is still holding plastics and some food, plus the bread maker.

This is our new plate cupboard (left of it is entrance to bathroom, right is the door out to the entrance and my office, furtherest door to right is our bedroom). We’re very pleased with how the cupboard fits here and what we've been able to put in it. It needed to be narrow to fit into this space. We threw our old one out last year, we’d had it 20 years and it definitely wasn’t new when we got it. It would not have fitted into this space. This piece of furniture came flat-packed (from Nitori, a Japanese furniture store) and took us about 90 minutes to build.

Another piece of new furniture that we built yesterday: a stand to hold the microwave/convection oven. It’s also got our tea/coffee corner, and spices and herbs on top, plus rubbish bins at the bottom. 

I’ve mentioned once or twice that the city expects a fair amount of rubbish sorting required of us, which of course means multiple bins. This is still a temporary area that we’ll need to figure out how to organise better, probably buying at least one more receptacle that will fit better into this space. 

Here is the kitchen sink. It’s typically large, extending almost to the right end of the cabinet. We purchased a small shelf that rests on the end of the sink so we could balance the drying rack on it. There is no plug; we wash up the water-saving Australian way (not continuous running water like Japanese people do), so we use a small washing up bowl. The curtain is a work in progress. I want to cut it down the centre so we can more easily open it to get more light into this area, I'll have to find the sewing machine to do that... We have a curtain because the hot summer sun pours in there in the morning (which will be nice in winter, if the angle is right, but isn’t nice in this current heat).

This is the three-burner stove top. What’s notable here is that we’ve added a small plastic-coated wire net in the corner (cost about AU$3) to hang utensils on as well as a more hooks on a rail that’s held up by suction caps. These save space on the bench and in drawers and make frequently used utensils easily accessible.

Here’s the whole kitchen (minus the plate cupboard and bookshelf). It’s a bit narrow, but seems to work. It’s very exciting to have this third piece of new furniture next to the fridge that gives us more bench (counter) and drawer space. It’s too high for me to comfortably use to prepare food, but will be useful for temporarily holding appliances like the bread maker, slow cooker, mixer, etc, as well as for helping keep the bench next to the stove clear so that can be used for preparation space.

The rice cooker can be used insitu here (Japanese furniture bonus!). But the mixer below it and the small food processor squished behind the mixer will need to be lifted out when needed. Two of these drawers are key pantry storage.

There are several areas that are still messy. We have lots of collapsed boxes and other not urgent things that have yet to find a home.

The cupboard in my office is stacked full. Some of this is destined for the school bazaar later in the year, other things need more sorting and potentially tossing. Camping gear is in here too, and probably needs more downsizing. A goal: being able to close these cupboard doors before Christmas.

My office. It’s getting there. I had one Zoom meeting here this week. It still needs more finessing. I have a love-hate relationship with desks and chairs. I find it hard to get comfortable, so I hate getting new combinations and trying to make them work for my body size. A footrest is one thing I need to work on. The chair isn’t quite high enough for the desk, but is as high as it goes…so I’m not sure what to do (I’ve got a couple of thin cushions on the seat at present). Some of the stuff on the desk would be better elsewhere, but it’s there for now.

So yes, a lot of literal and figurative bending and flexing. A lot of problem solving on big and small scale. 

All of this is, of course, tiring. Transition is tiring. So I’m trying to be kind to myself and try to help David to be the same to himself. I’m ever so grateful for so many things, including this beautiful apartment, good sleep enabled by air conditioning, and that we work for an organisation that knows how exhausting international transitions are. I'm still feeling a bit shaky and temporary, though anticipate that that will dissipate as time goes on as it has in the past. 

I'm sure I would not enjoy pole vaulting, as fun as it is to watch. I'm not particularly fond of the bending and flexing needed for moving either, but it doesn't go on forever! We'll solve these small inconveniences one by one or we'll get accustomed to them and get on with living! Life here will soon seem more routine and stable again.

I'm also grateful for this verse that reminds me that no matter how messy and unstable my life seems, I have a solid foundation given to me by God:

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand (Psalm 40: 2 NIV).

Update as we continue to settle

 Another week has past and what's happened? We're feeling more and more settled. Our apartment is feeling more homey and we really like it. On Saturday we opened up most of the boxes with books in them and put them on shelves. That's always a turning point for me in a new place. Things were starting to take shape and we were getting a better idea of what we still needed to find to make this place work smoothly.

The sunny side of the apartment (south side). This side faces the river/stream/waterway that
we regularly walk along. It's a block of four apartments and ours is the top right of this photo. If you look carefully you can see our laundry drying on our small balcony.

This is the north side. Our apartment is the top left here. The window on the left is my office.

Bookshelves populated. So fun to see old favourites there.

David leaving the apartment to go for a walk with me one evening.

Reality checks

On Sunday we went back to our old church and found that they had had to scramble to find a place to worship that morning. The electricity was off in the main sanctuary, so they moved to the room where the Sunday School normally meets. A Japanese worship service was a good reality check. In Australia we're frequently considered the experts on Japan, and especially people assume we're fluent in the language. Yet I come back here and it doesn't take long to show that, though we get by, my language, in particular, isn't superb. I understood very little of the sermon on Sunday (noting that that understanding a long monologue is one of the hardest language skills). Two days earlier, I also understood very little of the official language involved in buying a car or getting us registered at the city office (David managed better than me). But somehow we get by! It's so hard to explain to people who have never lived in a country with a difficult language like Japanese how we can feel at home here, but also not be completely fluent!

Monday

This day we rode again to a nearby shopping hub and went to a homeware store, electronics store, and a 100 yen shop. We bought a number of smaller things to help in the shower and kitchen. Best purchase was a new rice cooker (we threw our 23-year-old 10-cup one out last year). When we rode home at midday, the temperature was well above 35C and we were glad it was just a short ride home and that we could have a quiet afternoon.

Wednesday was a big day

We borrowed a car on Wednesday and did a number of jobs, this took all day and involved several hours of city driving. We drove back to the place that we're buying our new car and finished off some paperwork that we hadn't been able to do last week because we forgot to take our inkan (Japanese seal, which replaces signatures on official documents). We also found out we can't pick up our car until the end of August.

Then we drove another hour to an area we rarely visit in a car: Shinjuku. It's much more inner city than where we live. There we bought a second-hand desk off a guy I think is from Egypt. I found this in the same way I bought a few things in Australia: through Facebook Marketplace. It was a bit dodgy for a little bit, though, because he gave us a location that was over the road from his tiny apartment and said to "ring the bell" when we arrived. Alas the location was another block of apartments, none of which had his name on their mailboxes. Finally he answered my messages (I think he works late hours and was asleep) and came out to meet us.

After that we drove back closer to home to a big second hand store. There we found an IKEA armchair for half the price we would have bought it new, but didn't find the printer we wanted. 

Our second last stop was at Nitori, our favourite Japanese furniture store. It has an open plan, so much better than IKEA. And the furniture is designed for small Japanese homes, so you're much more likely to find stuff that's the right size. There we bought a carpet and curtains for our washitsu (Japanese style room with delicate woven flooring called tatami), this room is our lounge room and it's easier to take care of the flooring if it's covered. We also bought three pieces of furniture for the kitchen. I'm planning to write about that next week after the furniture has been delivered, so I can show you. Japanese kitchens initially appear impossible to Australians, who are used to lots of bench (counter) space, and quite a lot of cupboards, but these problems can often be solved with problem solving and the purchase of a few small and larger items.

Our last stop was to drop the car back to its owners and ride home. It had been a long, hot, exhausting day and my physical condition slipped back a little, but with rest in the cool and some food, I recovered and slept really well and long that night.

Lounge room is taking shape. TV is out of sight on the right and still needs something solid to sit on.

My new desk. We'll add a small bookshelf where those boxes are next week.

Recovery days

Both Tuesday and Thursday I spent mostly at home. Some of that was just resting in the cool, but also writing a prayer letter and doing more home-set up. Yesterday we also pulled the furniture out of the lounge and put the carpet in (more like a door-to-door rug) as well as David's new chair. We also rearranged the office and installed my new desk (which I really like). I keep reminding myself that we've had a big month and that slow days and recovery time is important, especially with the energy sapping heat and humidity this time of the year in Tokyo. Although, having good air conditioning at home has meant that we've been able to achieve more in a shorter space of time than we otherwise would have. 

Snickerdoodles and my microwave-
convection oven (on a temporary table)

Early in the week I also had a go at using the oven part of my microwave convection oven. I've rarely used that because in our previous house I had a really top notch oven. I made a fairly good batch of Snickerdoodles and was satisfied that I could live with this new method of baking. Though it looks a lot smaller, actually I could still bake 24 biscuits at one time (previous oven I could do 30), so it isn't too big a change, although it does take a lot longer to get up to the set temperature. Being able to bake is another of my turning points in adjusting to a new place, so being able to achieve this goal so soon after we arrived felt great.

Complexity

Settling after a big move like this takes time, even though we've moved back to our old neighbourhood. We're thankful that we've had time to make the adjustment. Jumping between countries is weird. It's like jumping between two different parts of our lives. 

Here we have a lot of history, a lot more of our lives have been lived here as adults than in Australia. This morning we rode to the police station to change the address on our drivers licences (wish it was like Australia where you do it online!). The station is across the road from where our youngest son was treated for concussion a couple of years ago. Part of the route we rode is a route I've often ridden on my way to and from my big park adventures. Our visit to Nitori brought up memories of the first time we visited this store when we were in our first month in the country in 2000/1. Our apartment has many more bits and pieces of our last 23 years than our lives in Australia do. 

But it's okay. I'm reading a biography of Naomi Osaka at present. I'm surprised by how parts of her story resonate with me. She's grown up and lives "between" cultures, as do many high level athletes. She's black, and Haitian, and Japanese, and American. I'm clearly a white Australian, but I'm also someone who's lived a long time in Japan and had a lot of interaction with the expat community here, and have been changed forever by these things. I'm gradually learning to embrace all of this complexity. 

We run our monthly news/prayer letter past our adult sons before we send it out, because it includes news about their lives. This week one of them called me out on some of what I'd written. Apparently "home" was a notion that was confusing things. It's a concept that is more complex for some people than others and certainly even more so in the midst of transition.

But to conclude this blog post, I want to reassure you that we are feeling quite at home here: in Japan and in our new abode. Each day is feeling more normal as micro and macro routines weave their way into our days. Work will add another layer to that in this coming week, but we're looking forward to being settled enough at home that we can turn our focus more outward.

Transition reflections

We are inching closer and closer to home assignment. It's less than five weeks till we fly out of Japan and while I know there is a lot yet to be done, I'm also getting impatient for it all to be over! I feel a bit overwhelmed by all the anticipation! 

This week I've been slowed up considerably by the miserable cold I mentioned last post, complicated as usual by my chronic asthma. I've gotten a lot less done than I'd expected, but nonetheless, I don't appear to be terribly behind, which is a great relief.

Yesterday morning I had my last "handover" planning meeting. Gradually the puzzle that I've been working on is being solved. The question that's been heavily on my mind for months now was how I was going to take leave from my various roles in Japan for 12 months without having those ministries collapse (not because I'm indispensable, but because I have been a key leader of both my main ministry teams). 

The goal I've been working towards is officially finishing most of my roles next Friday. After that we have our OMF field conference for a week in Hokkaido and then three and a half weeks to pack up our house, pack our bags, move, go to final medical appointments, say farewells, dispose of stuff, and hop on an aeroplane.

Forgive my unbelief

One of the stresses of moves like this one are all the unknowns compounded by many, many decisions. Most of the unknowns for us now are problems to be solved in Australia: like where we're going to live and how we're going to get around. 

We sent out our June prayer letter this week and in that we made an appeal to borrow furniture. We don't know where we'll live, but chances are that it will be unfurnished. We have only a very small amount stored in Australia and almost none of that is furniture, so each time we've got back for home assignment, we've asked our network to help us out. They've never failed in 20 years and I can't remember ever having to buy any larger (or even medium) household goods. God's provided in the past. But I still succumb to anxiety, which, I realise, is basically rooted in not believing that God will supply our needs (despite what I say with my words). In the case of the furniture, only an hour or two after I sent out that prayer letter, a good friend messaged me with news that she can supply most of those needs! Wow. Thank you Lord, but please forgive my unbelief! And help me to apply that faith to the other needs we have!

Quietly rebelling

What most people don't realise is that we really do like what we do in Japan. The essence of home assignment is that we have to give up what we really like doing here to become public speakers in Australia. And neither of us really enjoys public speaking.

I find myself quietly wanting to rebel against what we’re required to do over the next twelve months. Most of what we do in Japan is usually in the background. Neither of us feel comfortable being in the limelight. But home assignment puts us firmly there. We morph into speakers, workshop leaders, and Japan experts. My quiet rebellion is because I don't really want to be considered an extraordinary human being, one that needs to be pointed out as something special, someone who we invite to speak about their amazing experiences. That sub-text is contrary to what I want to communicate: that we are just ordinary humans, doing pretty ordinary stuff (just in an extraordinary place). We appear "special" because not many people do this, but it's not because we are inherently special. All we have and are is from God. It's because we serve an extraordinary God that we can do this, and keep doing it.

Translators?

I'm reading a book at the moment called Uncommon Ground, a collection of essays brought together by Tim Keller and John Inazu with perspectives from people thinking deeply and working daily to live with these times. What I didn't expect was to gain some perspective on what our role is during home assignment.One of the authors, John Inazu, calls himself a translator, though he is a lawyer and teacher. He says each of us is called to the task of translation: making words and ideas accessible to audiences unfamiliar with them. He describes his role as translating for and to each of the two worlds he occupies: the church and the university (he teaches law). "My vocation of translation means translating the university to some of my church friends and translating the church to some of my university friends." (p. 115)

In the case of a missionary on home assignment, we have to "translate" overseas mission and Japan to Australians. In general people we encounter there don't clearly understand what we do or where we do it. If you've followed my blog for a long time, you'll know that our work in Australia is composed of answering a lot of questions.

Much patience and diligence is required in translation. Much attention to detail as well as sensitivity to the wider picture. My work as an editor is also translation to some degree. I have to ensure that the writer's intent is accurately and appealingly translated into words that the audience will understand and not stumble over. And of course, as a writer who writes about cross-cultural life, I am translating my experience, life in Japan, and missionary life, into words so that others can understand. Pretty similar, in a way, to what we do on HA, except that as a writer and editor, I can hide behind my screen, rather than have to engage people face to face, or stand up in front of an audience with no time to edit my answers.

This is an interesting, helpful new thought for me. The author's thoughts on how we all need more humility, patience, and tolerance, are challenging, but helpful as we head into a different season of translation.

Baking and a new work-station

We're getting back into school-time routine. One was me baking on the weekend. During the summer, with our boys sleeping longer and not doing sports, we discovered they ate less snacks, so less baking was required. However we're back to sports and early rising, so snacks are back. 

Last week I made a recipe called "Spotty Cake" and just saying the title has the power to make my boys go weak at the knees. I don't think it is warranted that kind of honour, but I can't dispute the evidence. (Here's the recipe, I included it in a post a few years ago.)

As you can see, it's nearly finished, so I made Fat Mama Cookies this afternoon (and no, I don't like the name, but they are yummy, basically chocolate chip biscuits with powdered oats included).

Thanks to my wonderful husband, I've also had a work-station change over today.

From this:

To this:

I've worked from the first desk for more than a decade now, but as I've been hoping for a couple of years to find something a bit wider, but not actively looking. It's not easy to find something that fits the space available and yet can accomodate the laptop, printer, and a second screen (the second screen is very handy when I am very often working between two documents at the same time). It just so happened that someone at school heard that someone else was giving away this desk and my husband's ears pricked up.

I've done a bit of work here this afternoon and like the wider desk. But in order for it to work, I think I need a separate keyboard with a touch pad, because sitting on the side at the laptop and twisting my head to the big screen isn't going to work long-term. Does anyone have a good recommendation (for a Mac computer) that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

Our cosy lounge room

This is our lounge room, as it was yesterday afternoon. Untidied, summer lounge room. It is the only room in the house with carpet. About 4.1m by 2.8m. Not large, but a good room. Our room, the room we relax in.

 

There has not been enough seating for us all, though that hasn't been a big problem because most of the year we don't sit down and watch TV together. 

We never tried to solve the seating problem, because there simply isn't room for more Western-style chairs, without compromising on the floor space. The floor space is important for boys that like to wrestle or play big board games. More chairs would limit the flexibility for how the floor is used. This also happens to be our spare bedroom, where we lay out our futons if we have guests.

But Japan has other options we hadn't considered. This year we acquired two Japanese floor-chairs (called zaisu) from friends and colleagues who were emptying their house prior to moving back to the States. They are amazing. Underneath that comfy exterior is a metal frame with a hinge. That hinge holds you upright when you sit on this chair. It will even recline!

Look at these amazing floor-chairs. They flatten all the way out, so storage isn't as big a deal as you might imagine. I can't believe we've never considered chairs like these!

This is my chair. I cross-stitch, crochet, read, mend, or just sit and watch DVDs here. It's a cosy corner.

Here's the view from my chair. On the left is the door out to the dining room/office area. On the left side of this photo you can see a hint of a cupboard. It's a huge cupboard, floor to ceiling and deep. It holds lots of stuff, including our double futon for visitors and many games.

Photo a Day. Week Two.

Continuing on with this photo a day prompt this week. I'm posting them daily on Facebook, but thought a weekly summary here would be fun too because the photos do reflect something of my daily life.

November 4: Table. 

The physical centre of our home, the one place we all gather together most frequently. If this table could talk it could tell you some really embarrassing things about us, and some fun things too. It was given to us by friends. After we received it we discovered it also opens out to fit 8-10 people around it. A hospitable table too! I love this well-worn piece of furniture.

November 5: I collect . . . nothing actually. But my eldest son collects dice. 

After I posted this on Facebook my husband called me on it and suggested that I collect stories. A friend also suggested that I collect green things, hence what I posted on Nov. 7. 

Another thing I could have posted was my collection of rulers, especially ones with photos in the  middle. That is a static thing, I haven't added to it in about 20 years, however the collection is in Australia and I don't have a photo!

November 6: Music. 

I've been surrounded by music and musical instruments for as long as I can remember (especially pianos). This photo is of an inscription by my childhood piano teacher in a music book that she gave me. I owe a lot to her and my parents for putting up with me in my early years and giving me a solid musical foundation. That's not to say it was an easily gained foundation (she was very strict), but I'm grateful for it.

November 7: Yes! 

I love green, it always pops out at me saying "Yes! Look at me!" My friend April pointed out I could have put this as something I collect. It fits here too. I have many green things, from my precious emerald engagement ring to everyday cups and mugs.

November 8: Someone I miss.

Now this is a big ask for someone who's lived away from their home country for 11 of the past 13 years! And it isn't just people we've left in Australia that I miss, we've met many people overseas who we're no longer near-by who I miss too. I am very thankful, though, that in my 40 years, no one really close to me has died.

But when pushed for a photo on this topic, I'll include a photo of these friends. I miss the times we had together when we were "carefree" singles and childless couples. We've seen them rarely in the last 13 years, but even when we do, it's crowded and crazy. We've now got nine boisterous children between us (seven are boys) and it isn't quite what it used to be.

November 9: Mine.

My eldest son brought me this packet of Australian liquorice back from his recent trip to Guam. I was stoked that he remembered I love liquorice!

November 10: Book. 

This is a book I finished on Friday.  Most of the week it kept me up later than I should have been up. A crime thriller right up my alley. And bought cheaply at CAJ's Thrift Shop to boot!

A Matter of Desks

Our house is pretty large by Japanese standards, but with three intense, lively boys we still occasionally have space issues. 


One that I've been trying to solve for months is the homework challenge. Between 4.30 and 5.30 Monday to Thursday we usually have some homework and piano practise issues. Our eldest son does most of his paper-based homework in his room and that now works well unless he's on the computer while his youngest brother practises the piano . . . haven't figured that one out yet, except to give incentives to the piano practices and to physically stand between them!

It's not fancy, but it folds up easily, for the times when we
want more space for entertaining (or a Christmas tree...)

The struggles take many forms but often happen when one child is distracted by another. I often end up sending our middle son into the adjacent lounge room to do his homework. However there is no table in there, so he's on the floor or lounge. So, I've been looking for a small desk that will fit in the one spare spot in that room. While out getting some exercise with the boys on Saturday we rode past a second hand store that had the perfect little desk out the front for sale. We've acquired it and our son is thrilled. As the middle child, he's always trying to mark out his territory. To have something that is "all his", thrills his soul. Maybe later we'll introduce the concept that other people could use it at various times, but for now, he can have it. 


The other desk issue is mine. I have a tiny workstation in the corner of the dining room, wedged between our electronic piano and the sliding door to the back yard. This is where our family laptop and printer sits. There are no drawers and very little bench space. (US=counter, I think.) This is not new, I've functioned with this little workstation since our third year in Japan. But the one thing that has changed is that with my editing work, I'm working on the laptop more than ever before. 

Not the greatest photo, but can you see the desk in the corner?

I've been struggling with headaches over the past few months and we're trying to figure out what might be causing them. I traditionally have lots of triggers including low blood sugar, muscle tension, and fatigue, which can make it hard to figure out. And I continue to wonder about my coffee intake, even though it is very small. I have only two cups of half-caffeinated cups a day. So I am going to try cutting down and then altogether in the next few weeks, to see if that might help. I'm also seeing an Osteopath for massages to see if that will help (thankfully our Japanese health insurance covers most of this). 


On the weekend my husband wondered if hunching in front of a laptop was an issue for me too. So we're thinking about using a monitor and keyboard instead. RIght now I'm trying out a monitor borrowed from school and it definitely has my neck in a more neutral position. As an OT who studied ergonomics at uni, I should have figured this out a long time ago (to take some credit, I have the rest right, an appropriate height of chair, foot stool (short legs) and wrist rest.) Extra hardware isn't something we really want to buy, but as my husband says, if it works, in the long run it is cheaper than osteopaths and pain killers. Not to mention that I'd love to be free of these headaches!


Ah, when you have little space on a modest income in a rented house you have to be a good problem solver to figure it out some issues. Thankfully I love solving problems.

Surviving a trip to Ikea

Last Friday I was madly rushing around with 6th graders at an amusement park. What I didn't mention in this post about it was that almost as soon as we got home we left for an 1 1/2 drive across Tokyo. We went to our mission's Japan headquarters for a social get-together. We planned well, we weren't about to repeat a drive like that twice in a day, so we booked at room at the OMF guest home, so conveniently placed on the same site. 

The next day (last Saturday), instead of coming straight home, we drove the opposite direction to visit Ikea for the first time. The main reason was to find a chair for our lounge room. Lots of people use it, but it is primarily known as Wendy's cross-stitching chair! The previous one wasn't all that old, but the foam inside the cushion gave up and it was a painful chair to sit on and needed replacing. 

We went to Ikea in a desperate attempt to find something tall, all the Japanese chairs out at the moment seem to end somewhere near your shoulder blades, which isn't so great for relaxing in.

The trip to Ikea was not without its painful moments, mostly related to boys who don't do shopping well and Tokyo traffic on the way home with boys (actually it was mainly just one of them) who don't do long travel in city traffic really well (it took over two hours to drive home, much of which was creeping between traffic lights). 

Ikea itself is not the easiest place to navigate around, as I'm sure many of you know. It seems to be designed to turn you around so that you are totally disorientated and ?more likely to buy their stuff. It is also an easy place to lose members of a group - i.e. children!

Nevertheless we made it out alive and without too much damage to our wallets. 

While we were there we did find something else for our house. Now the weather is cooling down we're finding lots of clothes lying all over the place. Also laundry has increased exponentially. Our family policy in winter is that pants and jumpers (sweaters) get recycled for a second use, unless very dirty. But where to put those clothes? Previously we've used a small clothes tree, but as the boys have gotten bigger, so have the clothes and the clothes swamped it. So, here we have it. The blue column or cylinder. We're still struggling to know what to call it. Any ideas?

Furniture lists

That we are considering furniture lists is a hint that the move we're making in 3 months time is not an ordinary one. We have a household of furniture here in Japan and half a household of furniture in Australia. Not many people in our economic bracket can say that. We don't have a house in Australia, just some stuff! So, we find ourselves with a foot in both worlds at present. We're taking stock of what we have here: deciding what we want to store for the year we'll be in Oz and what we want to ditch and replace when we come back. At the same time we're considering what we left in Australia four years ago and what we need to borrow to supplement that to ensure we have enough beds for everyone and so on. It is a challenging assignment, one akin to juggling balls. Hoping, as we consider one aspect of this move, that we don't forget another and drop the ball!