more about my apartment

i'm so so so so so excited!!! i went onto google maps to try and see what kind of neighbourhood i'm gonna be living in the moment i knew my address, but i cant believe i've only noticed this now! my apartment is in Riverside Sagisu, and check this out - it's actually featured on the map! just that its name is in katakana/hiragana - リバーサイドさぎす - and i only noticed this today:

all along i was sooo focused on the ６丁１目 part of my address (the shaded area marked by 'A') that i didnt notice the smaller, fainter print above!

and my predecessor mentioned that there's a whole stretch of park in front of the apartment, and it's right next to the river. and hey, it's true!! the river is circled in black, while the park is circled in red. and my apartment is around the area marked out by 'A':

isnt that cool? i think that looks like quite a long park! well, even if it isnt, it's one less excuse for me not to exercise, cos apparently people jog and cycle in the park and so on. my predecessor likes the place a lot, which helps in getting me excited about it too!

and he just sent me a picture of the room that i'll be moving into. i would love love love to put it up, because it's just gorgeous! it's far more than i expected, cos he's apparently a clean freak, and the room looks rather neat! and the furniture etc look quite nice too. i'm happy to pay him the amount he quoted :) but anyway yeah, i would really want to put it up cos i'm REALLY excited about the place now, but well, it's still his apartment and i dont have permission :( but i can show it to you if you let me know you're interested! :)

and according to his measurements, the apartment isnt all that small! he says that the entire place - kitchen, bathroom, small patio and main living area (i dont know if the genkan or entrance is included - is 10.8m. which is rather long! it seems as long as my house is, in fact! but of course not as wide - the living area is about 2.5m, which isnt as wide as the kitchen (which is more than 3m in width) due to the closet for the futons.

but all in all, it sounds pretty good and quite nice! it really looks great. i think this totally supports all that is said about how important it is to make your house look nice if you're trying to sell it. in this case, i'm willing to buy all his stuff cos his house looks good! :) oh, rent, by the way, is 64000yen per month. i get 25,000yen per month on top of my 300,000 post-tax pay for housing allowance too. so we're considered as getting 325,000 post-taxes, and after deducting for insurance premiums and pension, it's 287,884 yen. after deducting 64,000 for rent - which is 22.2% of my pay - i have about $2843 left ($1=1.27yen). sounds ok i guess.

but yup. i'm looking forward to seeing my new home!!!! :D