saying goodbye

We've had these foldable beds from MUJI since 2009-ish.

I still remember trying to put the dark brown cover onto the beds myself...major perspiration!

They haven't been able to fold up to sit on for some time but we've been still using them to sleep on

And even if we don't have a replacement, we've finally decided to get rid of them.

It will cost us 2400 yen to get rid of, each bed needs (4) 300 yen seals to pay for them to get rid of the bed

“I” wanted to hire someone to take these down to the lobby for us, but "someone" says he'll be able to carry them down to the lobby...I think his exact words were “no problem, easy”…eep

From our apartment to the elevator there are about 15 stairs...

The way they built our building, there are stairs going up and down between floors, I'm pretty sure the person who designed the building was on drugs...

Anyway, I'll probably need to help him take them down and up those stairs...

I tied each bed up so that it should be easier to hold...

At first we had thought we would bring them down to the lobby this morning, but we ended up bringing them down last night.

Since making noise at night would be better than making noise early in the morning (these have to be in the lobby by 8:00)

It indeed took the two of us to bring it down, the 15 stairs were killer, down was harder than up.

But thank goodness for elevators.

I'm glad we got rid of this in Tokyo rather than Osaka (no elevator)

Next project: the old futons

saying goodbye...saying hello

Friday, we said goodbye to our kotatsu, the heated table that is used during the winters in Japan.

I still need to get rid of the futon (comforter that is sandwiched between the table top and base of the table), but I'll save that to be done after I research what needs to be done.

The guys that brought our new table, took our kotatsu (for a fee).

It was super fast, after coming with the table parts, they put it together, brought in the benches and left.

Not even 15 minutes.

Hopefully "someone" will be happy with this table...

cheek-zai

(picture from Unico Website)

While I was in Hawaii, Satoshi sent me an email stating that we "had" to buy a dining room table....WT?

When we moved from Osaka to Tokyo, I got rid of our dining room table because I didn't think it would fit in our kitchen area.

Plus, the chairs that were with the dining table were made of cardboard that were covered with leather(?) and were starting to fall apart.

Anyway, since moving we had been using our kotatsu which is a low table that has a heater built into the base of the table.

In the winter, you sandwich a futon (comforter) between the table top and the base of the table.

While you eat or sit, your feet are toasty from the heater and the futon also keep your legs warm.

I really don't like the kotatsu because during the winter I've often found "someone" sleeping under the table with the heater on...ahem

On top of that if you spill something while eating, it is hard to clean the futon...

I thought it would be good using the kotatsu because if others come over, we would just need to take out another zabuton (cushion) or two.

Anyway, "someone" said he is too old to sit on the floor, which is why we "need" a dining table...

When I told him we'd need to get rid of the kotatsu, he didn't understand why...um, because we have nowhere to store the kotatsu...sigh

So I looked online for something with a bench that could be tucked under the table when we weren't eating.

The bench could seat several people if necessary and would cut down the amount of individual chairs we would need for a table...

Sunday, we went to several furniture stores and decided on this one by Unico (pictured above).

It's made of cheek-zai...WT? is a little larger in length than the kotatsu table we have and also has a little storage under the table as well as the benches.

I looked online and "cheek" is teak and "zai" is material...I hate katakana it doesn't even come close to sounding like teak...

Anyway, our table and benches will be delivered next week and they will also take away our kotatsu (for a fee), which is good because I'd hate to have to deal with discarding the kotatsu ourselves.

Hopefully this table will stop "someone" from moaning and groaning.