{"id":726,"date":"2004-04-23T23:00:47","date_gmt":"2004-04-23T14:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2004-04-23\/726"},"modified":"2004-04-23T23:00:47","modified_gmt":"2004-04-23T14:00:47","slug":"getting-settled-in-japan-bike-ride-and-furniture-shopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2004-04-23\/726","title":{"rendered":"Getting Settled in Japan: Bike Ride and Furniture Shopping"},"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 woke up at 6:15 or so, which would be considered amazing, except\nthat he didn't go to sleep until 9:00 the previous evening. <span class='nobr'>He's just not<\/span>\ngetting enough sleep, so <span class='nobr'>I hope<\/span> things settle down soon. (He did get <span class='nobr'>a\nthree<\/span>-hour nap later in the day, today, but then didn't sleep until\n9:30pm; we'll see how tomorrow morning goes).\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nOnce Fumie got up, we thought we'd try our first group bike ride. <span class='nobr'>We both got<\/span> baby seats installed, so either of us could carry Anthony. Yesterday\nafternoon, we'd all gone to Toys R Us in Otsu, where Fumie picked up <span class='nobr'>a\nsuper<\/span>-light umbrella stroller. <span class='nobr'>The goal is<\/span> to be able to carry it plus\nAnthony on the bike, so that she can go out shopping with him by bike. We\nhaven't had time to figure out how to attach to the bike, so we decided\nthat I'd just carry it, or put it in my basket, or something.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nWe first went to 7-11 to get things for breakfast, and then headed off to\nthe Nanzenji temple (where <a href=\"\/blog\/2004-04-20\/725\">Anthony and <span class='nobr'>I had<\/span> gone<\/a> on Tuesday). <span class='nobr'>It was later<\/span> in the day and there\nwere more people around (including the most annoying class of human on\nearth, hordes of high-school boys walking to school). Still, it was nice,\nand we had an enjoyable breakfast in very nice surroundings. <span class='nobr'>I'm sure we<\/span>'ll\ndo this often.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nWe then set off for the southern end of the Tetsugakunomichi\n(&#8220;Philosopher's Road&#8221;), <span class='nobr'>a trailish<\/span> kind of walking\/bike path that run\nnorth\/south through much of eastern Kyoto. <span class='nobr'>It's particularly<\/span> well known to\nbe beautiful during cherry blossom season, but that was best earlier in the\nmonth, or late March. Still, it's quite nice, <a\nhref=\"\/i\/pic\/2004-04-23_10:06.39__00020.jpg\">especially\nthe southern part<\/a> closer to our place.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nWhen we got back, <span class='nobr'>I headed<\/span> out by train to the electronics shop, and picked\nup another light, and <span class='nobr'>a cordless<\/span> phone. <span class='nobr'>By the time<\/span> <span class='nobr'>I got<\/span> back, <span class='nobr'>Mom had stopped<\/span> by, and soon after, Fumie went to get <span class='nobr'>a hair<\/span> cut. There's <span class='nobr'>a place<\/span>\nabout 2 minutes from here that she wanted to try. (When <span class='nobr'>I saw<\/span> her later in\nthe evening, <span class='nobr'>I couldn't<\/span> tell that anything had been done, but she said that\nshe loved it, so that's good.)\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nIt was getting to be after 4pm, but <span class='nobr'>I wanted<\/span> to move forward on things, so\n<span class='nobr'>I went<\/span> out to reconnaissance furniture stores. <span class='nobr'>I had a<\/span> lead on a <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/www.kagude.com\/\">good furniture store<\/a> from my friend\nShimada-san (who seems to be the source of all knowledge &ndash; he's the one\nwho told us about the Toys R Us, as well). <span class='nobr'>It turned<\/span> out to be <span class='nobr'>a very<\/span> good\nlead in one sense &ndash; the furniture was of <span class='nobr'>a very<\/span> high quality, and I'm sure\nFumie would like some of the styles they have. <span class='nobr'>It was also<\/span> extremely\nexpensive, with the cheapest dinner tables starting at $1,000 (chairs, if\nyou want them, add $250 each). Maybe it wouldn't have been <span class='nobr'>a bad<\/span> idea to\nship furniture from Cupertino, after all! <span class='editorial'>(We eventually got some stuff from this place, and <span class='nobr'>a couple<\/span> of years later,\ndid ship some stuff from La-Z-Boy in Cupertino.)<\/span>\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nI did want to check out getting <span class='nobr'>a desk<\/span> for my work area, and they had <span class='nobr'>a\nnumber<\/span> of very nice ones. Prices started at around $800, but went up in\ncase you wanted <span class='nobr'>a little<\/span> book shelf (where <span class='nobr'>a hutch<\/span> might normally go), or <span class='nobr'>a\nmatching<\/span> file cabinet that rolls under part of the desk.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nI found a nice set that I was quite interested in, but at $1,400, <span class='nobr'>I doubt<\/span> I'll get it. It's large, so <span class='nobr'>I should<\/span> have lots of space to throw my junk,\nand it's an L shape, so <span class='nobr'>I can<\/span> have books or whatnot on one side.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nI also need a chair, and most chairs that they had were pretty typical\nchairs that offer <span class='nobr'>a couple<\/span> of adjustments. <span class='nobr'>But they had<\/span> one that adjusted\nin <span class='nobr'>a bazillion<\/span> ways. <span class='nobr'>I'm sure it<\/span>'d be very comfortable, but at over $1,000\nfor the cheapest model, again, <span class='nobr'>I doubt<\/span> it. <span class='nobr'>But since<\/span> <span class='nobr'>I spend<\/span> so much time\nworking at the computer, it may make good long-term sense to get <span class='nobr'>a comfy<\/span>\nchair.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nIn the evening, since Mom was here and could watch Anthony, Fumie and <span class='nobr'>I\nwent<\/span> out on a &#8220;date&#8221; for the first time in ages. <span class='nobr'>We went to<\/span> the\nSanjo\/Kawaramachi area of Kyoto, known for it's lively night life. <span class='nobr'>We found<\/span> <span class='nobr'>a nice<\/span> bar\/restaurant, and had <span class='nobr'>a few<\/span> drinks and nibbled on some food. <span class='nobr'>It was a<\/span> nice time.\n\n<\/p><p>\n\nMost of the day, the weather was as absolutely perfect as <span class='nobr'>I could<\/span> ever\nimagine it being, but in the late afternoon it started to get very windy\nand cooler, and by the evening, it was down right cold. <span class='nobr'>The 10 minute<\/span> bike\nride back was chilly, but there was <span class='nobr'>a hot<\/span> bath waiting for us.<\/p>\n\n<p><i><a href='\/blog\/2004-04-24\/727'>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\/726"}],"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=726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}