Here's how we livin' in Okinawa. By American standards, our apartment is incredibly small for two people but would be fine for a single. We were told that this is a "typical" Japanese apartment, and we haven't visited very many other locals or fellow JETs at home, so we're not sure how ours measures up. It's certainly inexpensive and conveniently located. :)
The view from the outside! We're on the third floor.
Looking down at the street from the third floor.
The famous LDK: Living, dining, kitchen. From here you can only see the "LD" part.
The Japanese have an apartment code just like we do. You know how we all know what things like "3 BDRM" mean? The Japanese all know what 3LDK means. Eric and I have a 2LDK, which means we have 2 tatami rooms and a single room called an LDK, or living/dining/kitchen. The tatami rooms have tatami mats (seen in upcoming photos) on the floor, and rooms are measured by how many standard-sized tatami mats can fit in that room. (They don't use square meters like we use square feet.) In general, tatami rooms are used as family rooms, bedrooms, and rooms to entertain guests.
Now with a person there so you can see the actual size of our "LD"...
Convection oven (basically a microwave and an actual oven put together) and rice cooker
View of the two tatami rooms and the moveable barrier between them. You could open up the sliding wooden doors in the middle and have one big room, or you can separate them into 2 rooms. Note the tatami mats on the floor.
One tatami room with futons stacked on the floor for sleeping.
The other tatami room with fold-up couch and TV
"Wide shot" of the "DK" kitchen area... (The shot is wider than the actual area.)
Sink/dishwashing area, and fridge.
Portable gas stove and strategic hooks where we keep things we have no room for.
2 bathrooms, no waiting! This is our shower bathroom. It's decently sized. Photo 1.
The rest of the shower bathroom. Photo 2.
The toilet bathroom. Contains a super tiny sink and some tension rods we use for our linens. CLASSY!!
Our balcony is the only part of our apt. that's bigger than average! It's nice and deep and has our washer and lines for drying.
My predecessor left us with lots of beautiful plants and flowers that have bloomed throughout the year. Gorgeous!