update

How are you?

Thought I should bring you up to date as to where we are...

So, after we found out that the price of the rent for us to look for was set, we also found out that the square footage that we were allowed was set too...eep! (550 square feet max)

The company labels our housing as "company housing" so everyone has to be the same rent and same square footage.

Apparently rent and square footage is more for families of 3 or more and less for those who are single or live/work away from their families.

If you remember, right now we live in a 600 square foot apartment.

Over the past couple of weeks, we worked with a real estate agent familiar with Satoshi's company's conditions.

She sent us all sorts of prospects, and one apartment that struck our attention was located in Shinagawa.

It was so convenient that Satoshi would be able to avoid riding the trains and walk to work!

The last Thursday of March we met up with the real estate agent in Tokyo and to our disappointment the Shinagawa property was poorly maintained and scarily dark.

Luckily the agent had two other properties lined up to show us in the Ikegami area.

To commute from Ikegami, Satoshi would need to ride two trains but both rides are not very long.

The commute time should equal to just about the same amount of time he takes to commute in Osaka, though I am sure the trains in Tokyo have a different kind of crowding.

Out of the two properties we looked at in the Ikegami area, one stood out...it is 470 square feet and on the top floor of the building, getting lots of sunlight, just like our apartment now but of course, smaller.

It is not too far from the train station, just like our apartment now.

The weekend before we looked at properties, we met with the moving company, they gave us an estimate and scheduled our move for April 15 (which could change if we cannot move in by the 16th).

Most of our appliances are old (17 years) so we are planning to get rid of them.

The cool thing about the moving company is that they sell new appliances and will get rid of our old ones (for a fee).

Among our belongings there were some things that we (mostly Satoshi) are not ready to part with, so we talked with MIL and she has allowed us to store these things in a room of her house. (thank you!)

Over these weeks, we also went several times to Kyoto to clear out the area for us to put these things and also help her clean a little.

During most days I have been packing boxes and purging (lots of purging!).

Thank goodness our city has an emergency bulk garbage pick up (for a fee) and they will be coming tomorrow!

During the past two weeks, I was also able to meet up with my host mom, host sister and some friends for lunches.

I was worried I would have to throw out some butter I had in the freezer but the family next door kindly accepted it. (thank you!)

Unfortunately I know I still will have to throw some food things out but at least most things have been eaten or given away.

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks.

At this point, we're still waiting for the real estate agent to get back to us on the apartment we are interested in.

Thank you for all the advice and good mojo from you readers, friends and family.

Be well.