{"id":722,"date":"2004-04-17T23:00:35","date_gmt":"2004-04-17T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2004-04-17\/722"},"modified":"2004-04-17T23:00:35","modified_gmt":"2004-04-17T14:00:35","slug":"getting-settled-in-japan-random-errands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2004-04-17\/722","title":{"rendered":"Getting Settled in Japan: Random Errands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<style>\np.editorialf  { width:700px }\n.editorial    { color:#AFA  }\n.editorial a  { color:#CFC  }\n<\/style>\n\n\n<div style='padding:5px 40px; background-color:#444; border: solid 1px #666; margin:10px 30px 50px 10px'>\n\n<p>The text of this post was originally written in April, 2004 as part of\nan online diary I kept before I actually started my blog. I'd forgotten\nabout it until I ran across it in February 2008. I inserted it into my blog\nthen, assigning dates appropriate to the content instead of to the time I\nactually added it. Thus, these April 2004 posts show up as my &#8220;first\nposts&#8221; in my <a nocross='1' href='\/blog\/toc\/'\nclass='quiet'>list of posts<\/a>, even though I didn't actually start a blog\nuntil a year later with my first post about <a nocross='1' class='quiet'\nhref='\/blog\/2005-04-01\/1'>buying a car in Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p>There's nothing here of interest to anyone but me; I insert it here so\nthat it's together with my other posts (which are also of little interest\nto anyone but me :-)) <span class='editorial'>Any comments I add while posting this to my blog in February 2008 appear like this.<\/span>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<p>This was originally written just after we moved from California to\nJapan, so our days were dominated by jet lag, and trying to set up our\nlife and newly-acquired apartment. Anthony was 18 months old.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\n\nAnthony slept all the way until 5am, which is <span class='nobr'>a big<\/span> step toward him getting\nover his jet lag. Fumie's mom had slept overnight, though, so we were\nreticent to let him run around, but eventually we all got up. With all the\ndeliveries and shopping we'd been doing, the place was <span class='nobr'>a mess,<\/span> so <span class='nobr'>I tidied<\/span>\nup and took the garbage out. That's <span class='nobr'>a luxury<\/span> that most Japanese don't have,\nas each part of town has its own garbage days. <span class='nobr'>I don't<\/span> know what specific\narrangements the complex has made for garbage, but there's <span class='nobr'>a spot<\/span> we can\nbring it to 24\/7, which is very nice.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nI spent a few minutes looking at the manual for the washer\/dryer, and Fumie\ndid the same for the fridge manual. <span class='nobr'>All the stuff<\/span> we're getting are quite\nnew to us, with features and options that were not available in America,\nnor in Japan when we last lived here, so there's <span class='nobr'>a lot<\/span> to learn. For\nexample, once you load the clothes into the washer and start it, it putzes\naround for 20 seconds or so then tells you how much detergent too put in.\nThat's sort of neat, <span class='nobr'>I suppose,<\/span> but we generally wash things with <span class='nobr'>a minimum<\/span>\namount of detergent anyway. <span class='nobr'>I threw<\/span> in <span class='nobr'>a bunch<\/span> of my clothes and gave it <span class='nobr'>a\nwhirl.<\/span> <span class='nobr'>I need 0<\/span>.8 scoops of detergent, and it said it'd be done with the\nwashing and drying after two hours 58 minutes.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nFumie, who didn't bring many clothes from America, was feeling the lack of\nthem, so wanted to go clothes shopping. Best to leave me out of that, so\nMom, Anthony, and <span class='nobr'>I headed<\/span> off toward Kuzuha to pick up <span class='nobr'>a table<\/span> and some\nstuff, dropping her off at Takashimaya at Shijo\/Kawaramachi. Anthony, who\nhad been getting more and more fussy, mercifully slept pretty much the\nway.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nWe stopped at a home center (Japanese version of <span class='nobr'>a Home<\/span> Depot combined with\n<span class='nobr'>a simple<\/span> department store), and <span class='nobr'>I had<\/span> to work hard not to succumb to\nimpulse buying. <span class='nobr'>I got some<\/span> stuff to add to the apartment's built-in\nshelving, <span class='nobr'>a pretty<\/span> nice tool kit (for the super bargain price of $20), and\n<span class='nobr'>a few<\/span> other little things. We'll definitely have to go back &mdash; it's an\nhour's drive from the apartment, but well worth it for all the little stuff\nwe'll need to get the apartment into shape.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nAt Kuzuha, we picked up a kitchen table that Mom didn't need &mdash; we'll use it\nfor <span class='nobr'>a while<\/span> until Fumie makes up her mind about our interior decoration.\nWhile sitting in the kitchen eating lunch before returning, Anthony was\nactually able to climb up to one of the dining-table chairs. <span class='nobr'>He then sat<\/span>\ndown like <span class='nobr'>a cute<\/span> little adult. <span class='nobr'>Mom and I<\/span> clapped and praise him, especially\nfor sitting down properly. After <span class='nobr'>a bit,<\/span> he stood up and tried to climb up\nonto the table, and <span class='nobr'>I made<\/span> an exaggerated sad face\/sound. <span class='nobr'>He sat back<\/span> down,\nand <span class='nobr'>I then<\/span> went back to clapping and praising him. <span class='nobr'>He stood<\/span> up again and\ngot the sad treatment, and then the game was on &mdash; he stood up and sat down\n<span class='nobr'>a number<\/span> of times, each time cherishing the expected response. <span class='nobr'>It was cute<\/span>.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nAnthony and I drove back to the apartment, and while unloading the car, two\nmore of the six boxes we'd sent via the postal system arrived. (Two had\narrived the previous day, but we missed them, so they were dropped off\nearlier today, so now we had four of the six). <span class='nobr'>The one we<\/span> want the most,\nthough, is one with <span class='nobr'>a bunch<\/span> of big fat plastic coat hangers, which we could\nreally use to get ourselves organized.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nI spent some time trying to make the best of the shelving stuff I'd bought\nat the home center, but nothing fit properly. <span class='nobr'>I hacked<\/span> things up <span class='nobr'>a bit<\/span> to\nget it to work, but <span class='nobr'>I feel<\/span> very limited not being able to make holes in the\nwall and do what <span class='nobr'>I want.<\/span> <span class='nobr'>I could<\/span> make the place much more\nuseful\/convenient, but no matter how nice it becomes, it has to be returned\nto the original state when we leave. Sigh.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nIn the evening, we went out to the best approximation of <span class='nobr'>a mall<\/span> that I've\nseen in Japan. <span class='nobr'>A rather<\/span> large four or five story building with <span class='nobr'>a large<\/span>\natrium in the center and shops of various types (clothing, music, books,\netc.) ringing the atrium on most levels. <span class='nobr'>The bottom<\/span> level has <span class='nobr'>a huge<\/span>\ngrocery store. While Fumie got some clothes, Anthony and <span class='nobr'>I played<\/span> in the\nlittle &#8220;Kids Corner&#8221; they had set up. It didn't have much, but was <span class='nobr'>a safe<\/span>\narea to run around in. <span class='nobr'>It was his<\/span> first interaction with Japanese kids. He\ndidn't interact much, but it was <span class='nobr'>a start.<\/span>\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nAt a bookstore, <span class='nobr'>I bought<\/span> <span class='nobr'>a couple<\/span> of maps of Kyoto, and then we got some\ngroceries to fill the fridge. Anthony got fussy along the way, so we left\nearly, but it was <span class='nobr'>a fun<\/span> outing. <span class='nobr'>He went to<\/span> be pretty soon after we got\nhome. Fumie and <span class='nobr'>I had<\/span> <span class='nobr'>a bath,<\/span> then ate dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><i><a href='\/blog\/2004-04-18\/723'>Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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.<\/p> <p>There's nothing here [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}