countdown

FOUR WEEKS TO GO. We're to move on December 16, and it's starting to reach critical stage in many areas. Sell the car; buy a smaller one. Recycle all the stuff we won't be taking: bookshelves, beds, kitchen utensils that are duplicated by the stuff we had at the old place and are now in storage at the contractor's warehouse. We're sleeping on the floor on futons now, but it's cold without tatami. Most of the DVDs, books, etc. have been packed except for what I need for work. We're making final arrangments for appliances, since the ones we have now came with the rent (which saves on moving expenses, but means we have to get them somewhere). By next year, it's been announced, the entire country of Japan will have access to high-speed optical fiber cable--everywhere, I guess, except Akiya. So we'll have to have regular cable for phone, internet and TV.

The schedule is tight. We're giving up the Tokyo house completely on the 18th, so we'll have to make sure all the connections are in place in Akiya. The site foreman doesn't want us to have things delivered until after they clean the place thoroughly and have the official final building check, but we're going to have to override him on a couple of things. Like the refrigerator: all the new models have come out, and there's no model that fits our space perfectly. One of last year's series does, and they're disappearing fast and prices are rising, so, sorry Yoshimura-san. There's going to be a big box in the middle of the dining room pretty soon.