Happy Road Oyamadai. It is a super cute little town.


This Baskin Robbins, a mere seconds from my apartment, could spell trouble for me.



My living room, sans furniture. The bedroom is off to the left. Click on the picture for more apartment shots.

In June 2006, I made the move to an apartment of my own in Oyamadai (尾山台 – it means low mountain slope place) on the Oimachi line (特急大井町線).

I’m really happy with the apartment, it large for a single person in Japan, and has recently been renovated. There are lots of windows, I get lots of sunlight (which I generally try to avoid) and have access to the roof. I might buy a chair and a BBQ. The bathroom is really nice, with a Shampoo Dresser. Do you know what a Shampoo Dresser is? I thought it was some sort of dresser for shampoo, a place to organize and put your shampoo. I couldn’t understand why the real estate agent was so excited about that. It turns out that a Shampoo Dresser is a sink with a retractable handle faucet that you can wash your hair in. Ohhhhh. I won’t use it, but apparently it is very convenient for ladies in a rush who want to wash their hair in the morning but not take a shower.

The best thing about the apartment is that it is in a great area. Right next to the station (although, that’s also the worst part because you get some train noise) in a really cute town. See the first picture, Oyamadai Happy Road. It’s a really fashionable-looking town that is on the up-and-up. More beauty salons that you can shake a stick at, some nice restaurants, a nice library (I’ve got to check that out!) and really cool cafés with cake and coffee sets. Even worse, a Baskin Robbins about thirty seconds from my apartment. That could spell doom.

The location is very convenient for the commute as well. It is 1500 meters from Jiyugaoka, which is what I take now to go to Shibuya then on to Jimbouchyou for work. So I’ve got probably a 15 minute walk, or 5 minute bike ride. I could take the Ooimachi train also, but I would rather get the exercise and save on commuting costs.

Last night, Tai, Aya, and I went to poke around the Oyamadai area. We had dinner at a really cute Itailian place. The food was really good, if a bit on the pricey side. We had a small pizza, three pasta dishes, and two decanters of wine. One pasta dish had a nice meat sauce, one a nice cream seafood (squid and clams) sauce, and the last one had a really spicy with jalepeños. Of course, I ate one before I noticed the small buggers, but it reminded me of Andy Crook and all the times in Dallas when he tricked me into eating the spicy buggers. A minute or two later and things were bearable, so it was a funny moment. Also, it brought out some sharp flavors in the wine (as I rapidly tried to put out the fire with a glass of white house wine…)