Tokyo houses aren't rare

My image of Tokyo before I first came here was of tonnes of sky scrapers. It didn't help that I'd spent time in Singapore, where, it seems most people live in large apartment complexes. I imagined that Tokyo, one of the largest metropolises in the world, would be living vertically. After all, how else do you manage to fit so many people into so little space?

Well the truth is something else entirely. There are a lot of apartments in Japan, but I'd guess that most of them are under 10 stories, probably even under six. We've lived in our different dwellings in Japan, two in Sapporo which were both apartments and neither higher than four stories. 

When we came to live in Tokyo we had three boys and decided that a house was a better idea. Who heard of living in a house in Tokyo?

See the skinny house taking advantage of a strip of
land that would have just been "wasted" in Australia.
We often joke when we're in Australia that Tokyo-ites
would have build several houses on the grassy
verges between houses and the roads there.

Well, as it turns out, lots of people. We've lived in two houses in Tokyo. Our neighbours are all living in houses. Next to us is even a house with just one elderly lady.

I think the key to high population density with low rise buildings is not wasting space. There really is minimal wasted space in this city. Japanese are experts at utilising almost every space imaginable. 

Yesterday I did a "Costco run". It is something I do every couple of months to stock up on various things. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour usually, to drive there, but the distance is under 20km. Along the way I snapped photos of houses I saw (when I was stopped at red lights). I wonder if this will give you something of an impression of what real Tokyo looks like. The houses are compact and use up most of the block. 

I have to emphasise that we don't live in the highest population density area of Tokyo and neither do any of the photos on this post come from those areas. The population density in the inner city areas of Tokyo is around 15,000 people per square kilometre. Our area has "only" 8.980 people per square kilometre. My drive took me west to places as sparse as 3,000 people per square kilometre! As far as I can tell it is hard to find areas in Australia that even come close to this.

Population density map (unfortunately without a key, lighter means more people).

I'm not quite sure what's happening here.  Two separate houses, but one car
parked behind the other. Perhaps these two houses are on the same property
and are owned by an extended family?

Townhouses. But much smaller than Australian townhouses.
They are only one room wide, and, by the look of it
two rooms deep.

A footpath (sidewalk, pavement) is a rare thing. These houses are on a
major road (two lanes each way), hence the footpath.

This house caught my eye because of the sneakers airing/drying on the wall.
With Japan's low crime rate, these shoes are probably pretty safe, even
though the house is just off a high-traffic two-lane road.

Only just enough room left for these cars. These are three separate houses.

Keeping the emotional space I need

I'm glad that packing isn't the biggest thing that's happening for us right now. Because we need emotional space. Individually, and as parents we need that space to help us help our

The other thing that is helping me stay
sane at this point is reading. I'm reading
more than I usually do (we're ahead on
packing). It is the best way I relax and
recharge.
This book I read a few weeks
ago, the most decrepit book I've ever read,
it was falling apart in my hands. But if you
ever get a chance, The Kon-Tiki Expedition
is a brilliant true adventure story that is
 great reading.

boys with their struggles. Yes, they're mostly happy about returning to Japan, but even a good change is challenging, merely because it is a change and things get messy. Plus they are old enough to know that there are good things about both places they've called home and that there are unknowns about what we face when we go back (like, "Will my friends still like me?")

I realised this morning how, though I'm not seriously busy, I've moved into a space where I'm very focused on the work of saying goodbyes, finishing up all the loose ends, and helping the boys cope.

I realised this when two different people made reasonable requests of us. Reasonable, except that their timing was bad. One was a simple networking request, one I'd usually love to be involved in. The other was responding to an article of mine that was published last month in an international ezine for Global women. I normally love it when people interact with my writing, but this one was asking too much of me, especially at this point in our transition.

Life's been a bit rocky on the parenting front this week as we've dealt with meltdowns/tantrums from all three boys on various occasions. To deal with that, and all the peripheral damage that goes with it, needs me to be focused, not distracted. So no apologies for being quite focused on us and those precious to us at this point. It's important for our sanity.

Craving Space

We're going camping again on Thursday. It is our third annual end of November camp, during CAJ's Thanksgiving Break. We're sooo looking forward to it. The boys too! We're returning to the same campsite we used the last two years at this time, so we know what the facilities are like and the fun that is to be had.

One benefit to camping at this time of year is that you don't have insects or sunburn to worry about. The main challenge is the cold. Forecast is for sunny weather, with about 11°C  to 1°C. That's not too bad at all, if you're prepared.

There are many things to look forward to, but I think one of the deepest ones, for us adults anyway, is the space. We're small-town Aussies who just get tired of the squishiness of Tokyo. I realised this again while talking to a Japanese friend at the gym today. Her son has just returned from a working holiday in Australia and one of the things he loved about our home country was the space.

The view across the valley from the campsite at sunrise

Here are some examples of the squishiness of our daily life in Tokyo:

• Walking to school the boys have no footpath most of the way. What they have is less than a metre strip on the side of the road if a car zooms by.
• If I walk out my front door, I'm practically on the street. If it look out almost any window in our house I see another house within a few metres.
• Our car and bikes are parked precisely. There is little room for error.
• In winter we heat only the rooms we're using. So, on a weekend during the day that is mainly the lounge-dining-kitchen area. Therefore often we're all in there.
• On Saturday we went to watch our youngest boy's elementary choir perform. I found my eldest son reluctant to leave at interval. He was gazing around the concert hall and said, "This is the largest room I've been in for quite a while!"
• When I ride my bike through the city to the gym, I'm dodging pedestrians and bikes everywhere.
• On the trains, you're usually shoulder-to-shoulder with someone else. Frequently you get pushed.
• The gym is similarly crowded. You're usually exercising at all times within 1 m of someone else, and I time my visits there for the least crowded times.



Park golf course at the campsite

• It's hard to ride your bike as fast as you'd like because you're always slowing down for other bikes, cars, pedestrians, and various obstacles.

That's just a few examples, not to whinge, but to give you an idea that, though we're fairly used to life here and content, we are keen to get out of the city when we can.

So, bring on the camping!

Breathing space at the end of an intense summer

I need some breathing space! I just realised that that is the problem I'm struggling with just now as I read this blog post by a mum with more boys than mine.

We've had the boys on holidays now for more than nine weeks. It's always intense when they're home, but travelling with them as we've done increases that intensity. Now we also have my mother-in-law with us for 2 1/2 weeks, which ratchets up the intensity even more. I need some breathing space.

They've all just walked down to CAJ for a time and I very gladly made the excuse that I needed to get some groceries (but have sneakily stayed home for a short bit to type here before I shop).

We've had a lot of fun together. The latest being a two night camping trip to Nikko, north of Tokyo from which we returned yesterday afternoon. A post will come on that. It was gorgeous. We've discovered another wonderful and accessible area to explore in the future.

It's been a lot of fun, but intense too. I am sooooo ready for everyone to go back to school! Less than two weeks are left, can I make it?

Low points and high points of our pre-Christmas holiday

You know I find it easiest to blog every day or every second day, as soon as I let it go more than that, it is hard to get back into the habit! Or perhaps it is that too much happens in a week and I struggle to know what to include in a short blog post!

We went up in to the mountains north-west of here. Not very far away, but about 1000m above sea level, so about 10 degrees (Celcius) colder. We didn't see much snow, unfortunately.

I think, though, that I might have preferred to remain at home. It wasn't the nicest of holidays. The high points were watching the boys have a go at a new sport - ice skating - and having a lot of fun (and a reasonable amount of success) and watching an outreach even on Thursday evening that the local Christians run and that has become a part of the tourist pull for the season (there were bus loads of tourists dropping by). 

My husband - not skating!

The low points would be pushing and shoving boys around to get done what has to be done, even when on holidays - hygiene things as well as just getting ready to go out and have a fun time (like dressing warmly). I think what made it more difficult was that we were in an even smaller space than what we usually squeeze into, as well as being with one another 24/7 - not something we do so much of any more with everyone at school.

Back to the high points. Ice skating was fantastic - no fighting and watching boys conquer their fears to a point of having a great time. The not-so-fantastic part was falling heavily a few times myself and the pain and bruises afterwards. Very thankful for no broken bones or stitches.

The other high point was the Singing Christmas Tree outreach at the local Christian retreat centre. Lots of lights and goodwill cheer. The tree filled up with about 60-70 singers. Not a fantastic choir, but very photogenic. And very cold too! There were roaming helpers who were giving away lollipops and tracts and a free hot apple cider stand too. Many tourists dropping by.

Another high point would be completing two jigsaws as a family. We didn't usually all do it together, but as we had time and inclination, which reduced the less enjoyable moments, yet gave us a sense of joint achievement. 

One last noteworthy point of our holiday is the waterfalls we went to. We drove and hiked to two waterfalls in the district, both of which were fun occasions. Even if I had to issue safety warnings on a regular basis, it didn't matter if they yelled or ran - we were outside.

But now we're home. Home-sweet-home, where we can spread out just a little more. Where we have more than one toilet and a separate room with the hand basin in it. Where we are close to a train station and have our own bikes to get around on. Where we now have all the Christmas presents that everyone has been waiting for for months, it seems. 

Hopefully now we'll find some of that "Peace" that seems to be associated in some way with Christmas.

Before After Japanese house transformation

I know compact living is common in Japan, but I haven't seen inside many houses, and usually only larger houses. If someone lives in a tiny house it is pretty unlikely that you would be invited inside to see it. 

So I was intrigued when I stubbled upon this blog last week, with an interesting link to this YouTube video. It shows a Japanese TV show called "Before After". It is a reality show in the style of Backyard Blitz and others like it in Australia, where they fix up someone's house. This show seems to specialise in tiny houses (probably helps their budget). 

On the show I've linked to, there are four adults (parents and two adult children) living in a very tiny house, a house that makes our current house look like a mansion. The mother is the only one who has normal sized (or placed) bed. The transformation is quite something. Some pretty amazing space-saving devices are employed. Not the cheapest of options, but amazing nonetheless.


However, they are still living in a tiny space. I wonder how many Australians would be content to live there?