The text of this post was originally written in April, 2004 as part of an online diary I kept before I actually started my blog. I'd forgotten about it until I ran across it in February 2008. I inserted it into my blog then, assigning dates appropriate to the content instead of to the time I actually added it. Thus, these April 2004 posts show up as my “first posts” in my list of posts, even though I didn't actually start a blog until a year later with my first post about buying a car in Japan.
There's nothing here of interest to anyone but me; I insert it here so that it's together with my other posts (which are also of little interest to anyone but me :-)) Any comments I add while posting this to my blog in February 2008 appear like this.
This was originally written just after we moved from California to Japan, so our days were dominated by jet lag, and trying to set up our life and newly-acquired apartment. Anthony was 18 months old.
Anthony got up again at 5:15. While he played, I had a chance to look at my new cell phone (a Casio A5403CA — links: 1 - 2) a bit. It's so far advanced to anything I've seen in The States that it's hard to believe the US can be so archaic in its technology. It's got a 2.2" diagonal display with an incredible 180 dpi pitch. It has another, smaller (1.1" diagonal) display on the outside. It can take pictures at up to 1600x1200. I'll write more about it later.
Today was going to be our moving day; tonight we'd stay at the apartment for the first time. We gathered up most of our stuff into the car, adding a few futons we'll borrow from Kuzuha until we have time to get our own. The car was so packed that there was no room for anyone but the driver, so it was decided that I'd drive the car (an hour or so trip), while Fumie, Mom, and Anthony would take the train (combined with walking to/from the stations, an hour or so trip).
I arrived and unloaded everything. They'd stopped for lunch, and arrived a bit later. We spent most of the afternoon arranging things. At one point, Fumie and Anthony and I made the rounds to the nearby neighbors (above, below, to the side) to introduce ourself. Fumie had brought little boxes of Godiva chocolate from The States, which we presented. It never hurts to be nice. The lady next to us (we have only one side neighbor, as we have the edge apartment) was particularly nice — I hope we'll get to be good friends.
We still have no fridge, so how to deal with Anthony's milk during the night was an issue. (Fumie received her first call on her cell phone, informing us that the fridge, washer/dryer, and microwave would be delivered tomorrow between 2 and 4pm.) We'd borrowed a cooler from Kuzuha, and so Fumie and I went to a convenience store (there are two within a five-minutes' walk) to get a block of ice, and dinner/breakfast stuff. At the time, Anthony was sleeping in the stroller, having just gotten back from a stroll with Mom.
Mom went home, and since Anthony was still sleeping, Fumie and I had dinner (I had noodles from the convenience store; she had a fish bento) and a bath. Dealing with the bath was somewhat of an issue, as the whole bath, including the adding of water, is controlled by a computer with two remotes (one on the wall near the bath, and one in the kitchen). You can have the bath fill and be kept warm at the touch of a button, and things like water level and temperature can be adjusted the same way. The manual is substantial, full of a surprising amount of Japanese that I could not understand. I understood enough to get it going, but Fumie will have to read it for all the details.
Anthony was still sleeping in the stroller, so I brought him to the futon we'd set up for him. In what's supposed to be the master bedroom (it has a tiny walk-in closet) we'd layed out three futons all next to each other. Anthony was up against the wall, then me, then Fumie. He didn't wake up, so continued sleeping. He'd started to sleep from 5:30, so jet lag is still an issue. (It turns out that he woke up at 1am, going back to sleep at 3am for another two and a half hours before getting up for good at 5:30am.)
It was getting late for us (8:15pm) so we were ready to wind down. While still in Kuzuha, I'd downloaded a copy of the latest Survivor and The Apprentice episodes that a friend had kindly prepared for us. Each, at almost a gigabyte, took and hour and a half to download. But it was nice to be able to sit in our empty apartment with the computer on a stool, getting our Survivor fix. It was sad to see Lex go, but he deserved it for actually trusting Rob. What a dummy. And the look on his face when he wasn't gifted the immunity... it was so miserable as to be funny — Fumie and I couldn't stop laughing, and felt horrible (not really) for it.
We left The Apprentice for another time, and headed off to sleep in our new place for the first time.