The Old School Otaku Lounge

Yes, actually the apartment had a deposit amount, but no key money and no thank-you money.
Here it is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7K62Q1rWKs

I'm currently visiting my dad in Arizona for a week. When I arrive in Japan again on the 28th, my family and I will begin living in our new apartment in Fuji the next day. I will prepare for my new job. We have not yet procured Internet access for the new apartment, so I may be silent for about three weeks and you possibly won't see me on the forum for awhile.

greg wrote:We have not yet procured Internet access for the new apartment, so I may be silent for about three weeks and you possibly won't see me on the forum for awhile.

Ever been hit with Internet withdrawal symptoms...?

Yes, and I believe I will be again soon! Actually, I've been getting used to it already. The Internet connection in our previous dump we lived in became highly unstable and practically unusable. For some reason, this forum had a bit of luck loading half the time, though.

Since Dad's too broke with paying off funeral expenses and Mom's Christmas shopping credit cards before she died, he won't be able to visit us anytime soon. So, this means that I will have a little extra money for my own stuff. I will get a new bicycle for our new apartment. Nothing fancy like a mountain bike (those get stolen often in Japan); I'll likely just get a mama-chari bicycle.

The one I bought in Himeji was from an Asahi bike shop down the street from me. When I had a flat, I'd take my bike there, buy a new tube, and they'd do the work for me for free. Amazing service I'd never see in the USA.

The bikes we had in America had metal wire saddle baskets on either side of the back tire rims. Those made shopping trips by bicycle very convenient. I hope I can find something like that in Japan as well.

I returned from America yesterday. I took a bus from Narita to Shinjuku and got to see the sights (Tokyo Tower, Shinjuku twin towers, construction completed on the Sky Tree, etc). I got plenty of rest last night, so today we're driving down to Fuji to begin our new life there. I won't have much Internet access for the next few weeks until I can get Internet set up at our new place.

greg wrote:Yes, actually the apartment had a deposit amount, but no key money and no thank-you money.
Here it is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7K62Q1rWKs

Greg,

Just saw your video for around Y60,000 is fantastic!

Just received word from Greg that he's in Fuji City now. He should be rejoining us here in a couple of weeks or so.

Hey guys, I am at an Internet/manga/billiards cafe in downtown Fuji at the moment. I hope to have proper Internet access at home by the 20th. The apartment is beautiful, with a great view of Mt. Fuji from our front windows on clear days. Furniture expenses have gone towards getting our daughter's room cleared up with shelves and such. The nerd cave will come soon with the next paycheck (computer desks, shelves for the DVDs, figures, and plastic models, etc.).

Whenever the newspaper or TV says something about the impending Tokai earthquake and how Fuji city is doomed by a tsunami, my wife's father and younger sister is sure to call her and tell her about it. Very annoying. Since the tsunami last year, the Japanese media has to scare everyone with news about the threat of another tsunami to get ratings, it seems. This country might not have another massive tsunami like that for 150 years, but nobody will watch the news if they tell people that. It's annoying.

Anyhow, we're just getting settled into our new home and having a nice time so far. The first weekend,I had a flu, but last weekend was rather enjoyable. The cherry blossoms are in bloom here and the weather is great. Maybe we can visit Tokyo sometime this summer.

Sounds nice - except the flu. I missed the cherry blossoms by about a week.