Well I see you guys enjoyed the bath. Was it hot enough? Did
you know that if we go to a sento, or public bath, the water is even hotter? It is a
little difficult to get in at first, but once you do, it feels pretty good. Especially in
the winter.
Let me take you to your bedroom now. No, no, don't worry about the dishes. You can do them
tommorrow <grin>. Come on, let me show you. And mind your head. I hit mine all the
time. Come on.
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| Right here to the left
is the benjo or toilet. If you just have to pee, then this one on the left is for you. For
bigger jobs, or for women, the door on the right. Yeah, I know it seems funny to have a
urinal in a house, but actually it is kind of handy. You don't have to flush as much
water, and you don't have to worry so much about "missing". |
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What do you think about the view
from the toilet? I know, you would close the door so you don't see anything, right? Well,
my legs are so long that when I am sitting down I really cannot close the door all the
way. When guests are here, of course I do, but regularly.... never mind. Forget I said
that. Anyway, I hand-made this table. It took about a year to do, but I did it all by
myself. I'll tell you about it some time. I am very proud of it. The wooden display on top
was also made by me, and the shakuhachi (japanese flute) is about 75 years old, and given
to me by Maeda-san who looks after Tug when we are away travelling. |
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OK, now we walk through the undonoma. This is where I used
to do my aerobics for seven years. Just look straight ahead and watch the video while
doing aerobics. See my weights? I used those. Actually now that I am weight lifting, the
5kg ones seem a little light. In the winter it gets darn cold in here. In the morning I
put socks on my hands and wear sweats and a sweatshirt. But after about 15 minutes I am
down to a tshirt and shorts. How cold? Oh, it has been -8C before. Imagine how cold it is
holding iron weights? |
| The walls are kind of
like a, well, a, sort of like something that I cannot explain. If you are not careful, you
can rub it off and little sparkly flakes fall to the ground and you have to vacuum. The
color is different because I guess when the family lived here, maybe somebody either
cracked the wall and they did a home-repair job, or it got burned or something. I think
there was a burner here at one time because the tatami mat that was here (we moved it) had
a round burn mark in it. |
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That's our living room called Ima
in Japanee where we watch movies. That is about all we use it for. We are never in here
otherwise. Just don't have the time to watch tv. Actually I don't really like TV so I
don't watch it at all. On the left is the
tokonoma. This is where art is usually kept in the house. You can see the kakejiku, or
hanging painting in the background, and in the foreground is my most favorite piece of
art, the bonsai. This is made entirely from PAPER! Hard to believe, eh? Actually
Yoshida-kun, the guy who made it, and my cycling buddy just brought me this case. |
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I asked for it because here in Japan we get lots of sticky
dust. It sticks to everything. There must be at least a thousand needles on this bonsai.
Can you imagine having to dust every single individual one? Not for me, thanks. It is
always a little dark in this corner of the house. Well, take a look at it again in the
morning when a little more natural light comes in. Then you should be able to see how
amazing my bonsai really is. I am so proud of it that I even put
it on my homepage for the entire world to see since I can't carry it with me whenever I
travel abroad.
In fact, it used to sit on the table I made. Looked really really good too. But the case
is just so huge that we couldn't put it back on the table without it looking funny. So
this is how it sits. No idea how I am going to move it when we finally move out of here. |
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This room is called Akafuji no ma because there is a picture
of Aka Fuji (red Fuji) there as you can see. It is supposed to bring good luck. I guess it
did. To the salesman. I got sucked into buying it about 9 years ago for 40,000 Yen! Lucky
him!! |
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OK, let's pull out the futon and
get you ready for bed. Most people usually sleep on futon on the floor like this. But
nowadays, kids have beds. Here are some extra blankets just in case you find it a bit
chilly at night. It should be OK, but I don't know if you sleep hot or cold. You never
know, right? Is this your first time to sleep on the floor? When Mayu and I watch movies
we use these mats to lie on and watch the TV. Usually we fall asleep there and wake up
with killer backs. Don't worry, you will be fine. You can enjoy the experience. This room
probably looks our most "Japanese" of all rooms because of the walls, the doors,
etc. |
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Oh, just three more rooms and then I will let you have a
good night sleep. Come on through these doors. Look down to your left. You see the stuffed
martin? That is a "ten" in Japanese. So this room is called Tennoma. Actually we
don't use this room at all. It is just passed through by us to go to other rooms. |
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Then to the left here again is our second laundry room.
That's my cycling jersey. In the summer we put the laundry here because it keeps it out of
site from our eyes. I hate living with hanging laundry but it is always there. So we move
from the one near the kitchen, to this sentakuba. In the winter it is too cold back here
(no heat) and nothing dries so we keep it near the kitchen where all the heat runs while
we are living there. |
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Next through this door here, to the last room on the main
floor. My Proflex is in pieces here because the shocks are broken. Usually it is hanging
at the genkan above King Tug bed but for now it is here. Mayu's bike is kept here, and the
doors at the end of this room (called fusuma) hold some bike stuff and raingear on the
left, and our files, and storage on the right. If you go through these white doors here on
the left, you are back to your bedroom. |
Well, that is it for
the main floor. And as it is a little dark I would rather show you upstairs tomorrow, OK?
So have a good sleep, and don't worry if you hear someone screaming in the night. It is
just me talking in my sleep. By the way, Tug talks too.
See you tomorrow. Don't worry about sleeping in. It is perfectly fine. I might not get up
that early either.
Oyasumi nasai. |
While visions of pickled plums, fermented soy beans and dried
squid dance in their head....
Click Here when you finally wake up tomorrow morning.
April 8th, 2001 |