Welcome to Japan
After 3 months selling my house in the UK I was finally able to join my wife and boy in Japan. How great it is to have no mortgage and ditch so many bills and junk to start a new life on the other side of the world!
The actual place is Kanazawa Japan which is the opposite side to Tokyo so it’s alot cheaper to live than in Tokyo. It’s a city with everything you need, close to the sea and within driving distance of the Japanese alps for skiing.
We are staying in my wife’s mom’s house which is a traditional Japanese one so it is cold in the winter and you need to wear many layers of cloths to be comfortable.
I’ve been here just 1 week so far but already had numerous interesting experiences. After leaving Osaka airport I went to a ticket desk to buy a ticket for the train. I remembered that I needed to take the train to shin-osaka and then catch the bullet train to Kanazawa. The girls at the ticket desk said all the seats were booked so I had to have a non-resevered seat so I went for that one. The 1st train was to leave in a few minutes so I rushed to the train, failing to insert the correct ticket into the barrier, I finally made it to the train which as soon as I was aboard started moving. Then I noticed my ticket was for a reserved seat. Ho-hum I thought and settled down in my non-reserved seat for the short journey to the other side of town. Some 2 hours later the train arived at Shin-Osaka.
Next, I dashed for the Shinkansen (bullet train). Again, the ticket barrier refused my ticket and said “insert all your tickets”. So I did and it just bleeped. A train station guard came running over and pointed over the way saying a number which luckily I understood as the platform number I needed. This was looking good since it actually said Kanazawa on the platform sign. Minutes later a very old looking bullet train arrived and I got on board at the end since it said non reserved in numbers 8-9 or so. Unfortunately, this was the reserved end so I had to walk through all the carriages to the non-reserved carriage. On the way, I was thinking this bullet train was a bit slow, probably because it was old and I got a cheap ticket.
Later, I learned that this was not a Shinkansen since there is no Shinkansen line to Kanazawa! Finally I was reunited with my wife after waiting near the drop-off point at the wrong end of Kanazawa station in the freezing cold for 20 minutes while my wife searched the telephone booths for me.
Anyway, I made it by myself to Kanazawa!
Congratulations with moving to your new home!
I wonder if even small cities in Japan have this electronic tickets system or only big ones, do you know this?
Comment by SensoVision — February 20, 2006 at 5:44 am
I don’t know, but I expect these automatic ticket machines would be everywhere now or very soon.
Comment by blogmaster — February 23, 2006 at 4:57 am
Oh, and thanks for the congratulations!
Comment by blogmaster — February 23, 2006 at 4:58 am
Hi Andy, you mentioned your inlaws home is a traditional Japanese home and cold in winter? Could you explain? It mean is it made of paper and no heat? Tha’s silly of course, but am interested in more detailed desrciption.[laugh]
Comment by rosie — March 1, 2006 at 12:45 pm
Hi Rosie, I don’t think origami is a suitable method for home construction
It’s made of wood and has no insulation. Plus my mother in law likes fresh air so leaves some of the windows partly open all the time! It’s hot in summer because she doesn’t like to use air conditioning and this place is hot and humid in summer.
We had some snow yesterday but today it is sunny so the upstairs room I’m in now feels warm and bright.
Today I had a look at a show home built Canadian style which was lovely and warm.
Comment by blogmaster — March 4, 2006 at 1:01 am
Andy, are we thinking of home shopping lol!? I personally think, that THE TEMPERATURE YOUR HOME IS, IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE. Basic needs, comfort stuff. I like windows open in the winter , but am always conderned about the energy loss so have an air puifier. I don’t want to be cold! I can take being hot more! When it’s hot in the summer ,I work in the yard and turn the hose on myself!
Comment by rosie — March 4, 2006 at 2:19 am
Yeah I also had hard time with getting fresh air in winter, that’s why I’m looking in the side of air purifier since windows are frozen and sometimes couldn’t be opened at all.
BTW Rosie, I didn’t know you har air purifier, maybe you would post about your experiences with it here or on WKey?
Comment by SensoVision — March 12, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Today I was chilled to the bone so used an air conditioner unit that hadn’t been used in many years. Thankfully it worked after a few minutes so I enjoyed a warm afternoon whilst there were hail storms outside
I went for a run this morning and after had a shower but the water turned ice cold. Some guy had turned up to do maintenance on the water heater. So I had to mop myself in freezing cold water with a sponge. That was fun
Comment by blogmaster — March 13, 2006 at 5:18 am
Hi Andy, don’t know if you’ll see this since it is so late after the fact. I enjoyed your train experience because I had a few of my own in early Tokyo stay. One time in Tokyo, I got on the correct train on the circular line around Tokyo, only to find I was going the wrong direction. Eventually made it, but it took a long time and I saw a lot of the city!
Re: Cold houses… tell me about it. We were fortunate that our Japanese home on top of a hill had an oil heater in it. Our babysitter from down the hill loved to come up because she had only a small hibachi for heat and thought we lived in the lap of luxury. But she was never there when the wind came down the stove pipe and blew ashes all over the lower half of the house! That was not fun.
Comment by texbev — March 25, 2006 at 11:35 am
Saweeet site! Really nice :-). I couldn’t agree more with the comments. Keep the content coming.This was a fun site!.
Comment by bernetta — April 17, 2006 at 12:54 pm