June 12, 2006
Moving to Oyamadai
Moving by bicycle
On Friday, 2006-06-09, the movers came to move the furniture from the apartment in Fukuzawa to my new place in Oyamadai. Officially I was able to move in from June first, but I wanted to move as much as my stuff as possible before making the actual move. I also needed some time to prepare for the move, so I waited until the 9th to make the big move. Over the week prior to the move I made two to three trips on my little bicycle from one place to the other. Each trip takes about fifteen minutes, and there is a fairly large hill in between the two so either way half the trip is pedaling up a hill, and the other half is braking down the hill, trying to avoid hitting people on the sidewalk. Over the course of the move-in, I've probably made about twelve or thirteen trips between the two places on that little bike. It is a great bike. It can fold in half, and I recently put a basket on the front just for cases like this when I would need to move things around in it. Sadly, it is a bit small, and even with the seat as high as it can go, I can't stretch my legs out far and long trips on it are quite uncomfortable. Still, I get the feeling that if everyone in America rode a bike as much as I ride that little bike, we wouldn't have a national obescity epidemic. Of all the things in my apartment, probably about twenty percent of them by volume arrived on my bike or in my backpack. That doesn't sound like much, but if you go by item count instead of volume, that number rises up to about eighty percent I think. I really have gotten a lot of mileage out of that little red bike since I bought it early last year.Paying $140 to not use a bed

On the dangers of relying on a bicycle to move
On my last trip to the Fukuzawa apartment, my bike picked up a thumb tack in the rear tire, and it went flat. I had to walk the poor thing back to Oyamadai. I didn't think this would be much of a problem though because there is a cute little bike shop right on the main street where I should be able to get the puncture fixed. I went down to the main street, but the bike shop was closed. Since it was noon, I guess the owner must have been out to lunch or something. So, back to the apartment for a while to unpack. Returning later, the bike shop was still cloesd. I went next door to the Diving Shop, and spoke to the owner there. He said that the bike shop next door was open randomly, would often shut down business for good, then mysteriously open up again a few weeks later. Now, I don't generally base my impression of a business based on what the owner of the diving shop says, but he seemed like a nice guy, and it looked like in any case, I wouldn't be fixing my bike's poor tire at the shop next door. So I had to find an alternative. A quick trip to the local police box got me the information I needed: there is another bike shop about fifteen minutes down the rode. So I walked the bike down to the other bike shop, and got the tire fixed for 1000 yen. While he was at it, he also fixed the squeeky rear break. I just wish the shop wasn't a fifteen minute walk away, because that is a long walk when you don't have a bike. It is an interesting walk though. The road to the bike shop is lined with some opulent houses. It seems like a really rich and nice area. I wonder what I am doing living in the vicinity?Pros and Cons
As of today, I am completely moved-in to my new apartment in Oyamadai, and I am really very happy with it. There are many positive points about this place, and only one real negative point. First, the positive points:- It is a large apartment for Japan
- It was just renovated, and has a beautiful interior
- The bathroom is absolutely excellent; toilet and bath are separate (desireable in Japan) and there is a separate area for the sink (very rare in single person apartments)
- I have a small balcony that is protected from the rain to dry laundry, and there is a space for the washing machine
- Two closets, both large
- A huge shoe rack / storage closet at the entrance
- I absolutely love the neighborhood
- Very close to Jiyugaoka station, which I use for my commute (a bit closer than where I used to live even!)
- Fourth-floor apartment, no burglers are going to climb up this high
- Low ceilings so I can easily change light-bulbs (contrast this with my apartment in New York, where even with the help of a step-ladder on top of the coffee table I needed to balance on top of two phone books to reach the lights. Typically I never changed the light bulbs until every single light source in the room was exhausted, and only then if the TV didn't give off enough light to serve whatever purpose was necessary.)
- Close to Oyamadai station
- Very close to Oyamadai station
- Fourth floor walk-up, no elevator (although, this could go in the positive list, since it means enforced stair-climbing exercise)
- Low ceilings. If my dad came to visit, got excited and jumped for joy, he would hurt his head. Luckily, I've never once seen him jump for joy, so I think overall this isn't really a big problem.
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