My Life in Japan

This was the fourth time I did purchase at COSTCO WHOLESALE at Makuhari after coming to Japan. When Balasan told about Costco and the economical benefits of purchasing from Costco one year before, I was not fully convinced obviously because I was leading a single life at that time in Japan.

Now with family, purchasing from Costco is an economically beneficial. Membership is mandatory to purchase from Costco. Two individuals can do shopping with one membership card. Balasan has taken the membership card for one year. The one year membership card costs 4000 yen without tax.

When we buy household items in bulk, Costco is a good choice, as far as our experience goes. I could see Ready to eat MTR foods from India, which is an attractive item for Indians and Pakistanis in Japan. The cost of 4 Nos of Palak paneer packs cost 898 Japanese Yen. The average cost of one pack is 224.5 Japanese yen. The same Palak paneer from MTR in other local shops in Tokyo that sells Indian foods costs 480 Japanese yen. There are some Indian shops that sell little bit cheaper than 480 Yen but not very near to the cost at Costco.

Another example is the cost of Olive oil. The one liter Olive oil I bought from a local supermarket cost me around 900 Yen, while the one I did yesterday at Costco cost me around 500 Yen per liter, when purchased a can of 5 liters.

Travelling from our place to Makuhari is the only disadvantage for us to shop at Costco. For me, living at Higashi Ojima, I have to take Toei Shinjuku line up to Motoyawata. From there by changing to JR line to reach Nishi Funabashi. From Nishi Funabashi the frequency of trains directly to Kahin Makuhari is less. Most of the time we have to make one more transfer at Minami Funabashi to reach finally at Kahin Makuhari. From Kahin Makuhari we will board the bus that goes to Costco wholesale, Makuhari. There are two buses in every one hour. We have to plan the travel as per the bus timings to save time.

When we used to go to OVTA for our Japanese lessons, it was easier to shop at Saturdays once the Japanese lessons are finished. Vegetables and Food items are much cheaper compared to shopping at local shops. Costco is a wholesale shop whose history dates back to 1976 when it started first sale in Morena Boulevard in San Diego, CA, U.S.A.

First Costco warehouse was opened in Seattle, WA, U.S.A in 1983, Costco have more than 500 locations worldwide. Best part of Costco is it is open not only to business customers, but to retail customers too can avail the benefit of purchasing the things at whole sale price. Costco operates at nine locations in Japan. The branches in Japan are in Fukuoka (Hisayama), Chiba (Makuhari), Machida City (Tamasakai), Hyogo (Amagasaki), Yokohama (Kanazawa), Kawasaki (Kawasaki), Sapporo (Sapporo) and in Saitama two branches one at Iruma and another at Shinmisato. We can see the Makuhari branch when we go to Kahin Makuhari from Nishi Funabashi on our way to OVTA for Japanese lessons. Click here for Costco website in Japan; Costco.jp

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Makuhari, click here; Costco Makuhari

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Tamsakai, click here; Costco Tamasakai

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Amagasaki, click here; Costco Amagasaki

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Hisayama, click here; Costco Hisayama

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Kanazawa seaside, click here; Costco Kanazawa seaside

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Kawasaki, click here; Costco Kawasaki

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Sapporo, click here; Costco Sapporo

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Iruma, click here; Costco Iruma

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Shinmisato, click here; Costco Shinmisato

Shopping at Costco is a good option to control the living cost in Tokyo. Living in Tokyo is highly expensive especially with family. Then the options like Costco will make the living somewhat comfortable though not fully. Daily living items, the expiry date of which are more than 6 months can be purchased at once in bulk to save money while we do shopping at Costco. One of the disadvantages is that most of the times we have limited options of brands to choose from. Electronic items do not have many options.

As one of the Japanese friend told, foreigners in Japan spend more money for living as they lack information on places where they can do economical purchasing. Local people and foreigners who have been living in Japan for long know such places and have many options for shopping. They can limit their expenses to their budget, while many of the new comers to Japan spend more unknowingly due to lack of information. Single living does not require many items to be stored in bulk. This also tempts singles to buy from local shops as and when required and that costs them higher making the living expense in Japan further high.

On April 3rd I got a mail from one of my friend Mr. Wong to join for O-hanami party on 5th April, Sunday. Sakura flowers were blossoming at that time. That was the perfect season to celebrate o-hanami party. That would have been my second cherry blossom season in Japan. Last year I celebrated o-hanami party with my friends at Sakura, Chiba prefecture. The name of the place is also Sakura, similar to the Sakura trees in Japan, but I think both have different Kanji characters. This means both have different meanings. Sakura flowers are Cherry flowers. The place Sakura has the Kanji character for store house.

Hana means flower in Japanese language and mi means ‘Observe’, ‘Watch’, ‘View’, ‘See’ etc. This is the time Japanese people gather under the Sakura trees in public places where Sakura trees are covered with sakura flowers. At evenings they sit together under sakura trees and drink, eat and enjoy. The parks and public gardens would be crowded during these days. Japanese language use ‘O’ in-front of some words to show the respect, politeness, feminineness and at some occasions bad things like ‘Sake’ (alcohol) in the form of o-sake.

O-hanami is the time for enjoyment. Drinks will be served unlimited and Japanese people drink and look above to the sakura flowers. They will praise the beauty of sakura flowers. It was really an interesting experience for me last year. This year when Mr. Wong sent e-mail invitation for o-hanami party, I replied to him the following;

“I will watch Sakura flowers in India! My daughters’ faces are more equally beautiful like Sakura flowers!! Just seriously joking. This Saturday I will leave to India and will be back on next week Friday along with my family. Sorry for my absence.”

On Saturday, 4th April, I went back to India as planned. There were varieties of flowers at my home in India too. Many different varieties of hibiscus flowers in the garden in front of our home were also beautiful and were a feast for eyes. My younger brother is fond of hibiscus flowers and he collects different varieties of them and takes care along with the love birds in the garden.




On 5th April I reached at home and had great time with my kids and better half. On April 9th I reached back to Tokyo with my wife, two daughters and mother. Now I am not alone in Tokyo no more!

This is the end of my solitude. It may not be necessary for me to think of the solitary reapers while walking over the Arakawa Bridge that connects Komatsugawa Park and the Shin-Ohashi dori on the way to Namaste foods at Higashi Ojima. From now onwards I will be accompanied with my elder Sakura flower!

What better cherry blossom I can observe than the smiles of my daughters! After all, my cherry blossoms are not limited to one week when my daughters are with me.

Along with drizzles there were agonies of severance when we hugged. That was the pain of heart which the pen might not be able to convey. That is the kind of communion of hearts beyond cultures, community, nations and religions that expatriates makes during their stay away from their mother land in a foreign country. Some of the Japanese people passing through at that late night at Keisei Narita railway station might have witnessed a traditional Indian way of hugging. It was the final moments we shared each other in Japan – Mustain-san and me.

Mustain-san departed from Japan. He was one of my best friends for the last one year stay in Japan. He was the one to whom I could talk at first in the office as a friend, with whom I shared my personal feelings, thoughts, ideas and pleasures. Mustain-san showed me where to do shopping, where to look for economical purchasing and how to transfer trains in Tokyo. Those initial training was very much essential and helpful for my survival in Japan.

We visited many places in and around Tokyo together during weekends. He introduced me to the Indonesian restaurants in Tokyo and one of the Indonesian shop at Okachimachi. During Sundays I also go with Mustain-san to buy some items from Indonesian shop at Okachimachi. The boiled tapioca tender leaves with small fishes tasted good for me. I became frequent visitor to that Indonesian shop till we shifted our stay to separate apartments during September 2008.

Through Mustain-san I learned more about Indonesia and its culture. I had some general idea about Indonesia, but through him I got some deep knowledge of the complex culture of Indonesia and its ethnicity.

We studied lessons of Japanese language together at OVTA and shared our new words while working and walking back to the apartment. We made fun together and enjoyed with other friends. We dined together in different Indian and Indonesian restaurants in Tokyo. Mustain-san was my argument partner interestingly. We argue on technical issues and gained more knowledge. Now I feel a vacuum without Mustain-san.

Mohammad Mustain from Indonesia is no more with me now. He had already crossed the sea that separates Japan and Indonesia. We are far away but the memories are warm in the heart. After all friendship goes beyond sea and sky.

Thanks Mustain-san for everything you gave me during our days together in Japan. I miss you a lot.

Though not common, I have experience of getting surrounded by kids two times so far. Yesterday was the second of such incident happened. The first incident was on July 2008. I thought of sharing this experience here as it was an interesting experience.

Those kids must be below the age of 7. I was walking on a lonely road at Kiba that lead to the Tozai line railway station. On the way back to home is the time when thoughts of the past try to prevail on the routine work related stress. I found this revisiting childhood days effective to control day to day negative experiences if any, by refreshment.

A tree with deep roots may withstand a heavy storm. It is always the tree that do not have deep roots deracinate in storm. Travelling through forgotten roots rejuvenate and makes them adept to survive tempests.

Yesterday there were 4 kids trying to walk up with my speed of walking, all of them in a celebrating mood as if they have found a new creature from another planet! Those Japanese kids were almost dancing around me. I could hear some words like “Kono hito…” and somewhere in between a sound similar to “gaikokujin”. In total I understood that they were happy to see a foreigner on the street.

Hey, that will be interesting! I should not shout at them to go away like we do to dogs. They are kids and won’t do any harm. This situation might have turned little bit embarrassing to me had it been happened in a crowded place. The road was almost empty but I could see two Japanese women back to the kids when looked back. They were calling the kids, probably to stop running behind me. One of the women ran to catch the kids. When she reached near to me, she said sorry for all the things happened.

She got two kids at her hand but one of them was interested to touch me! She again told so many excuses in Japanese and was almost like getting angry towards the kids for their play. I tried to convey her in my broken Japanese not to scold the kids. It is quite natural for kids to get excitement by seeing a foreigner. I looked different to them from other people whom they daily see. Even though Asians, Indians have different physical figure from East Asians.

I could enjoy the excitement of Japanese kids on the road. Walking away towards the station by saying sayonara to the kids, I was thinking similar scenes when along with my younger brother I walked behind the ISCON group when they camped at a temple in the village near to our home. We saw many white skin people and got excited to talk with them. We did not know what to talk. We guessed they were from America. ISCON were getting a kind of popularity at that time. My brother and I targeted a white man, who showed interest in us with a smiling face when we walked near to him.

When the ISCON group camped near the temple, we approached him but feared to talk with him. He called us near to him and asked our name and about our school. He was surprised to see us replying in English to his queries, because English is not our mother tongue, but still student in villages in India could manage to talk in his language. He gave us sweets from his bag.

We were very thrilled by talking to that American man. Is it not that same kind of feeling yesterday those Japanese kids experienced? Astonishment in seeing somebody different from them, touching a foreigner, talking with a foreigner…….for kids and why even for many of the adults these are kind of different experiences.

And that is what the life is: a collection of different experiences here and there in a chain of repetitive similar experiences.

Length of the day is becoming long and now both day and night are in equilibrium. The night was longer and day was shorter. Some how, the longer night is not attractive. Our days are becoming short in this earth?

It is better to be in the space always where there is no sense of time. No sunrise in the space and therefore no sunset. Stephen Hawking’s keyboards were powerful to convey such magnanimous reflections of his thoughts. When there is no sense of time in the space, how the days will be counted, how we get old and how the death come?

Nietzsche was playing chess inside the mind. He will win again. There were children on the street playing. One of the teen ager showed his acrobatic skills and his friend also followed his performances. Let Nietzsche take rest. I don’t want to get lost once again to him.

The black holes and the stars in the unknown and unrevealed places of the cosmos brought enough disorientation and I used to stretch arms towards the sky to get more energy. Is this an apparently meaningless and absurd world? The cherry buds coming out of the Sakura trees have something different to convey. If Sartre and Kafka were born in Japan, existentialism might have lost two strong proponents. Existence is strongly justified in the land of Samurais.

It is not the brief history of time here in Japan. The pavements would have murmured a long history of time if I sit and listen to them. The road is busy with people, but still I am alone on the street. Is this not a strange world, a world full of strange people? I could not complete reading ‘The castle’. The longer days tempted me to walk on the roads like a stranger along with many other strangers. So far I did not like the shorter days.

I become a stranger when keeping myself away from all others on the road. Life as a stranger has no attraction. Being with the mainstream makes the life flow. But is it possible to be with the mainstream? Walking on the road may not necessarily ensure the possibility of being with the mainstream. Otherwise is there anything called mainstream? It is all a feeling individual strangers shows outside as a group to escape from existential fears. Sartre and Camus can sardonically smile.

One Japanese teen-ager threw stones on a tree near to the roadside. Is the tree his enemy or is he trying to find his enemy on the tree? All minds may not like to be forged and there may be odd incidents of aggression.

Today there was an unusual crowd in the Toei Shinjuku line in the morning. Generally everyday morning travel is on the heavily packed trains. Most of the commuters will get down at Morishita.

Yesterday due to heavy wind, there were some delays in the Tozai line. I heard an announcement in Japanese saying that something happened in the Tozai line due to wind and trains will be delayed. Combined with the common sense I guessed the rest part of the announcement. My Japanese speaking level is still at low!

Later in the evening while watching television (terebi in Japanese) I realized the danger effects of the storm. There was an accident in the Narita Airport and two pilots of FexEx courier service met with death. 16 of the international flights were cancelled due to the accident.

Heavy wind is not an uncommon thing in Japan, especially during season changes. Japan is witnessing a season change at present. The winter is just finished and the spring will start within a few days. The start of spring will bring more colors to the life of Japan. Sakura trees are getting themselves prepared to welcome the spring. It is a festival to the eyes, the Sakura flowers blossom. The cherry blossom is typical to the Japanese life and it is almost symbolic to the psyche of Japanese people.

Coming back to the crowded train today, I have been witnessing a strange scene at railway stations for many months. I have seen crowd in the railway station and crowded trains in my country also. But in Japan what is strange is the station staff help to push people inside the train. They use all their energy to push commuters inside the train. Japanese people are co-operative and they adjust to the maximum extent. When the trains are crowded or otherwise too, Japanese people do not make any noise. They are silent throughout the journey and walk out of the train without making any noise. They move in line slowly towards the escalator to the exit.

Most of the commuters will have a book with them. They are busy with their book while waiting for the train and travelling. Some people read while walking also. This keeps them busy with the things they like to do rather than looking around and talk with others and making public nuisance. The public discipline of Japanese people is noteworthy to mention here. How to bring a whole nation to such a military discipline?

When the station crew push the struggling passenger inside, people inside adjust themselves as far as they can to accommodate one more co-passenger. Pushing passengers is the typical thing I have seen in Japan.

Japanese obsession towards cleanliness makes the crowded trains also tolerable. The passengers are clean and gentle. They wear decent clothing that makes the journey comfortable even in such a crowed train. Public morality is also high in Japan. The reasonably low crime rate and immoral activities at public places makes the public life in Japan more convenient.

This is just a page from the daily life in Japan, not representing any reinforced ideas based on many years of experience. As some of my friends like to comment on my views, probably I am yet to know the real Japan! Wonder I though how different it will be than what I have been passing through!

Magarri was shot by Japanese military. Magarri was on his mission to save the trapped children in an island in Australia when Japanese war planes bombed and destroyed most part of the island including an orphanage run by missionaries. Japanese military men shot Magarri from back when he tried to run to the boat where Drover and Nullah along with saved children were waiting.

Magarri fell on the sand. Japanese army men approached to the half dead Magarri. They tried to get information about others from him. He did not say anything. Japanese army men shot him to confirm his death.

It is a scene from ‘Australia’ which I saw yesterday along with friends in 109 Cinemas in Ito Yokado, Kiba. The movie ‘Australia’ directed, co-produced and written by Baz Luhrmann is interwoven well with fiction, romance, fairly tales, history and aboriginal believes.

What is special with the movie Australia for me is it is the first movie I watched in Japan. Generally I do not prefer to watch movies at theatres mainly due to some of my physical limitations. When Tom-san and Wong-san proposed to watch this movie at Kiba, I also joined with them. It was slightly difficult to follow the Australian version of English but the flow of story in Australia was never boring. We could enjoy the beautiful landscapes of Australia.

The character of Magarri is played by David Ngoombujarra who is an indigenous Australian actor. He played the role of assistant to the main character Drover played by Hugh Jackman who was looking after the livestock in ‘far away down’ in North western Australia own by Lady Ashley. The leading role of Lady Ashley was played by Nicole Kidman.

Incredible is the role of Nullah, the son of an aboriginal woman and a white father. The boy plays an equally leading role like Lady Ashley in the movie. Nullah's role was played by Brandon Walters, an 11 years old indigenous boy from Broome. The scenes of the boy Nullah riding a horse were excellent with an astonishing Australian landscape as background.

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman were in Tokyo, Japan on 26th February for a promotion of ‘Australia’. The movie Australia was released in Japan on 28 February 2009. I am not going to the detailed story of Australia as it will kill the thrill of watching the movie for many of you.

The Australian aborigine grandfather of Nullah played by David Gulpilil is exciting. He played the role of King George, a magic tribal leader, whose grandson is Nullah, the boy living with Lady Ashley. Nullah is son to an aboriginal woman and a white Neil Fletcher, a station manager who plans to take Faraway Downs from Lady Sarah Ashley. Mother of Nullah is daughter to King George. All scenes of black magic and aboriginal dance shown in the movie were new to us. The movie Australia conveyed new knowledge on Australia.

There is love, passion, desire, fear, anger, hatred, racism, jealousy, simplicity, superstition and history in Australia, all interwoven so nicely that we enjoyed watching the two hours and forty five minutes lengthy movie in one stretch without any intermission.

Japanese Army was shown as negative characters in the film. The Japanese war planes bomb at innocent human beings and kill them. The orphanage was also destroyed by Japanese army. They killed Magarri. History says Japanese people were wrong at the time of World War II, but how come my mind justifies the Japanese stand!

Did the history teachers conveyed me wrong lessons that Japanese military was in the right direction? Was British imperialism opposed severely by Indian people and at the same time justified Japanese imperialism? I am not a scholar to comment into the exact details of support of Indian people to Japan even after many years of the war. Was it due to the anger towards the British who were ruling India at the time of war?

Japanese military helped one of the great Indian freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose (S.C Bose) to form Indian National Army (INA) and fight against the British at the time of Second World War Almost all Indians consciously or unconsciously supports S.C Bose and consider him equal to Gandhi. Some Indians consider him as the real Indian freedom fighter. He has shown courage to form a military with the help of Japanese military and fight against British. They captured some eastern parts of India and established the Independent India Government (Azad Hind). Unfortunately Japan lost the war and rest is part of the history well known.

Contrary to the official opinion, Indians supported the stand of Japan at the time of World War II. It is worth to recall the name of the Indian judge Radhabinod Pal, who was on the 11 judge panel of the Allied tribunal and was the only one to voice dissent. Radhabinod Pal opposed punishing Japanese war criminals convicted by an Allied tribunal.

Other East Asian countries may not support Japan and the new generations at these countries might have studied a different history about Japan as opposed to the history books in India. Therefore it was little difficult for me to accept first the scene of Magarri shot dead by Japanese army. I don't want to personally justify any crime committed by the Japanese army during World War II, but just wanted to convey the influence of teachings and different perspectives on mindsets. Probably the truth is what the majority believes not always may not be the absolute truth. So is the fate of history too. What the majority and the winner believes and implements is the true history and the defeated one is always a sinner!

Yahoo answers have an interesting discussion on this movie. To read please go to this link; The movie Australia

Anyway, my first movie in Japan ‘Australia’ invoked memories of the history classes at high school. Thanks to Baz Luhrmann and team.

Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. The recent statistics shows that capital of Japan, Tokyo is the most expensive place in the world to live. Japan is the second strongest economy in the world, but the most expensive.

One reason for this high expense is the highest living standards by its citizens. The quality of life is also high in Tokyo. Everything contributes to the expenses.

From the last one year living experience in Japan, let me brief the costs of living in Tokyo. The apartment rent per month is 115,000 Japanese yen. For Yahoo BB broadband internet connection with a land phone the bill be around 6,400 Japanese yen. It is quite reasonable considering the quality of service Yahoo BB offers and the advantages of having a landline telephone from Yahoo BB in combination with Apa Kabar international calling card.

The monthly electricity bill will be around 6000 Japanese yen. I paid the last water bill approximately 3600 Japanese yen for two months. So, monthly 1800 Yen is nominal for a single man. The gas bill will be around 1600 Yen, because I don’t cook at home. This gas consumption is for heating the water for making coffee and water heating for bathing. The NHK television bill will be 1390 Yen per month. Softbank mobile phone charges for a month is around 2000 Yen. This includes the extra calls I make to friends within Japan. For making international calls I use Apa kabar card which costs 2400 Yen. I have to buy at least 3 Apa Kabar cards in a month, thus this amounts to 7200 Yen per month.

Daily commutation charges by train to office and back will be 580 Yen per day. So accumulated for a month and also including the extra travels I make to visit friends and for purchase will total to 20,000 Yen. This kind of expense depends on the place where we live. For others, this amount may be less or high.

For food and snacks monthly approximate expense for a single head will vary from 45000 to 60,000. If I go for eating out together with other friends once in a week, this amount will go further high.

Hair dressing charges are quite noticeable in Japan. My hair dresser charges me with a small bill of 3,000 Yen. This is where I got astonished with the living expenses in Tokyo. Every month I pay 3,000 Yen for hair cutting. I am not going for any beautification of my hair! In my country, for this amount of money, even if I go for a medium luxury hair saloon, I can have my hair cut for full two years! Here in Tokyo, we are not paying for the actual work he does rather we pay the hair dresser to live in Tokyo. He also have to live in Tokyo in order to render his service to us!

The clothing and physical fitness charges will vary according to the individual and I don’t want to put any amount, but it won’t be less than 10,000 Yen if we take the average per month.
Then there are vacation expenses for a foreigner. Entertainment expenses another category. Today I went to see a movie. One movie ticket costs 1800 Yen.

Since I have insurance, I have to pay some 30% of the expenses. Monthly medical expenses are approximately 5000 Yen.

Living with family and kids is quite highly expensive in Japan. The lowest international school fee won’t be less than 60,000 Yen per month for one kid. The school bus expense may vary from 20,000 Yen and more. Then comes the other education expenses separately.

All the above mentioned expenses are purely from my own experience and have nothing to do with a national average figure. I don’t want to do a totaling of all the expenses and state a particular amount as the monthly expenses. Some companies will take care of some type of expenses. Again that depends on the individuals agreement with the company and company's commitment to the employees. Therefore Just I have given the breakups of living expenses in Tokyo. There are other types of expenses, which I might have missed out. I will update once I remember those expenses.

All praise to Japan till now, here we go a bit sarcastic. This phrase was conveyed to me by a friend: A lucky man is one who lives with an English house, American Salary, French cook and Japanese wife. (This is again praise to Japanese people!)

Then the unlucky man lives with an English Cook, American wife, French Salary and Japanese house! (This one may not be praise!)

Though little exaggerated, the above phrase reflects the traditional belief that Japanese houses are just enough to live. When I entered to the apartment allocated to me I realized it. People with 6 feet height can raise their hands and touch the ceiling. We don’t need to search for a stool to change the lights for example.

Traditional Japanese houses are simple, neat and beautiful. Japanese houses are built with a bedroom with Tatami. The meaning of Tatami in Japanese is ‘folded and piled’. Tatami mats are a traditional type of Japanese flooring. Tatami floors are made of woven soft rush straw, and traditionally packed with rice straw.

The modern Japanese technology uses sometimes styrofoam though it is not widely accepted and not considered traditional. Tatami are made in individual mats of uniform size and shape, bordered by brocade or plain cloth. I am not sure of the exact dimension of Tatami mats, but my boss when he took me to the apartment first time during February 2008 told me that Japanese building standards use different Tatami sizes and bedrooms are identified with the number of Tatami used in a bedroom.

When I changed to a new apartment at Higashi Ojima, my boss accompanied me to select the house. Foreigners may often face problem to find a house in Japan. Many house owners turn their face against foreigners. If approached through a real estate agent, foreigner’s application may be turned down. I have heard of such problems in Japan, where it is difficult for foreign people to find a suitable apartment alone. Many of the house owners have problem in communicating with foreigners.

The language barrier is one of the biggest problems. Also the house owner thinks that due to improper language communication for day to day living, the foreigners may trouble the neighbors. Foreigners come from different background and may not be aware of the garbage disposal procedures and other social gatherings on which Japanese people mix together and contribute to the cleanliness of the building. Japanese house owner is more worried about the interpersonal relationship of the foreigners with local Japanese. Very often this attitude of Japanese people is highlighted as discrimination and racism of Japanese people towards foreigners. If we meet this land owner individually, he is very polite and nice talking and may not have any false prejudice inside. He just wanted to avoid complications (communicating in English with foreigners is a complicated thing for many Japanese people – true!)

Anyway, coming back to our discussion on Japanese houses, the Tatami laid Japanese houses represents Japan’s simplicity even at the height of technological advancements and achievements. Tatami reminds us the nature’s presence inside a Japanese house. Finally at night, for sleeping, we withdraw ourselves from all the modern life stresses and interpersonal strains and go back to the nature! That is a great idea behind Tatami.

Tatami were a symbol of luxury item for the wealthy at a time when lower class people’s houses had mat covered dirt floors. Tatami were gradually popularized and finally reached the homes of commoners around 300 years ago. Otherwise my house won’t have built with a Tatami floored bedroom!

House rent is high in Tokyo. The house rent for my dwelling is $1150 per month, including the maintenance charges. This home is just enough for my family with two kids. In Japan, it is tagged as 1LDK. This means the house is with One bed room, one living room, one Dining hall, one Kitchen. Kitchen is always a part of extension of the dining hall. If we go for more comfort, half of the salary will be consumed by the house owner!

If you are looking for a rented home: http://www.propertyworld.com/_Japan