Our Japanese Home!

Thought you might like to see a few of the cool Japanese perks that we're enjoying in our new place! So, here it goes! First another little picture of our garden spot because I like it so much! Then on to the entrance to our house...you come into a little tiled area (kind of like a "mud room") where the Japanese custom is, of course, to take off your shoes. (We actually had to sign a contract stating that we would not wear shoes in the house!) On the door you might also notice our mailbox where we receive all of our bills in Japanese - fortunately the numbers on the bills are the same and we know the sign for Yen, so even if we don't know what we're paying for at least we know how much we owe. Also, all the bills come with bar codes and we just take them to the 7 - 11 down the street, scan them, and hand over the cash!
And now an introduction to the Japanese "Robo-toilet"....you might notice on the side where the toilet plugs into the wall - that's because of all the amenities it has to offer - heated seats, automatic flushing sensor, and a bidet (bottom washing function for both men and women!) If you look closely enough you can also see the sink at the top of the toilet where you wash your hands with the water that is refilling the toilet bowl. (Josh has to work pretty hard to convince me that the water was actually clean!) Aaaah, Japanese ingenuity!! We have one toilet like this upstairs and another one downstairs. Then we have another room with a sink and vanity that are connected to the "shower room" - literally a room that is the shower. All you have to do is close the door, turn on the water, and wash away! The bath tub is also in this room, but they function a bit differently than at home. Here they are equipped with a special circulation device that constantly heats the water and keeps it at the temperature you have set. Because of this device, bath tubs are used for soaking and relaxing only and soap is not supposed to be used in them.
A few other things worthy of noting are the storage unit that we have set into the floor of the kitchen - we use it for storing sodas, canned goods, and coolers! Our mini washer/dryer unit is interesting as well! It takes a few hours to get through a load of wash, but it gets the job done eventually! (I guess I wouldn't mind anything, since last year I walked down 6 flights of stairs to do laundry and the year before that I had to drive down the road to do wash!)
Two traditional things that are found in Japanese houses that we do not have are tatami mats (straw mats that act as a carpet or covering for wooden or cement floors) and rice paper coverings over our windows and doors. While both of these things make houses look very cool, they are both difficult to maintain, so we're kind of glad that we don't have to deal with them. Hope you enjoyed your little tour! We'll send more pics when we have everything really clean!