My Apartment

After two weeks in Japan I finally got my apartment! At a whopping 22sq meters, it's surprisingly liveable - I don't even have to roll up my futon each day (which is really the point of a futon).

The previous owner left lots of stuff, some of it useful, but most of it had to be thrown out to make room for my things. In total, 9 garbage bags off stuff had to go, but garbage pick up is very limited in Japan - everything has to be small and sorted and thrown out on the appropriate day. I got rid of that crappy desk chair, and had to take it apart with a butter knife and split the plastic/fabric and metal parts. I was paranoid I'd get arrested for my shady garbage sorting skills, so I took this one to a dumpster down my street.

You can see the door to my apartment (with coats hanging next to it), with a little entry area for shoes. From there you take a step up to get into the apartment. To the right, behind the fridge/counter, is a little kitchen area with a small sink and one burner.

On the left you can see the open pantry door, and next to that the laundry room door. The folding door is to the bathroom.

Before:

After:
Looking at the apartment from the entry, you can see the futon and a big window (there's a smaller one above the desk). Behind the yellow curtain is the balcony door, and on the right next to the drawers you can again see the entrance to the bathroom.

Before:
After:
With my busy work schedule, I had to spend every waking minute cleaning in order to get the place organized, but it was worth it. Please note the adorable pig humidifier...