osaka prefecture #1 in sexual assults!

oh man check out the full article here.

i guess when i'm there i should check to see if there're pple hiding around corners and be sure to close my door quickly!!

aidan says that he'll give me his small bottle of pepper spray. must remember to get it from him.

i was reading this article on harvesting garlic, and was reminded of the conversation some of us newly minted JETs had today over lunch. although my position as a super urban JET draws some envy, i kinda envy some of the others too! there are JETs who pay only slightly more than 7000yen in rent - i pay 49,000 after the housing allowance! and some dont even pay a single cent at all. mine is 1DK, while of course there are others with 2DK apartments. there's one who has been posted to Shimane prefecture, and apparently her predecessor has a garden with stuff like brinjal, onions and so on.

how cool is that?! i would like to grow some stuff too, and will try to do something about keeping potted plants.

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

Rent and Insurance - edited

i was surfing around trying to get more information about rent and so on, and discovered this blog: http://www.soundtracktolife.net/blog/2007/08/19/what-is-the-jet-program/. the writer actually managed to negotiate with his Board of Education to lower his rent and settle some repairs for his apartment, so it'll be good for me to remember to try doing this if necessary.. frankly, i dont think i need a 2 bedroom apartment if that means paying more for it.. haha.

apparently, we can also apply to get a refund on our insurance too. while it brings me hope, i would still wanna speak to someone about this (rather than just relying on hearsay) before i rejoice..

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a friend i met says that the JETs she knows actually get subsidies for their rents and end up paying very little for rent each month! hmmmmmmm. sounds hopeful!

how come i hear so many different accounts though???