How average Japanese live: a fascinating story in photos

Many people interested in Japan often ask: how do the Japanese live? How is everything arranged in their everyday life? A photoblogger under the nickname barmoska, who lives in two cities, Osaka and New York, shared his observations. The site publishes this fascinating post for its readers.

Sometimes there are posts in which people not only talk about visiting an ordinary Japanese apartment, but also show it in photos. The inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun themselves do not often invite people to visit them (if compared with Russia, for example), and there may be several reasons for this. Personally, it seems to me that the main reason is, probably, still shyness: they do not want to show their life, the living conditions are not the same, and in general for most of them it is unusual...

Some of my acquaintances from Osaka (a young married couple) do not have any special complexes about this, and I managed to visit their apartment and take some photos.

I warn you right away – you should not expect any artistic value from the pictures, these are just ordinary interiors of housing, from which you can get some idea of the house."

1. So, meet Kimura-san on the left and his wife, Eri-chan, on the right. They invite you to come into their home.



Photo source: Barmoska.livejournal.com2. But let's start with the entrance itself. Their car, a tiny Daihatsu, is parked outside.





3. Of course, they have a place in the internal parking lot under the house, but when they leave for a short time in the city, they leave the car at the emergency exit.





4. There are not many floors in the house, but unlike many other new buildings in Osaka, most of the apartments are multi-dimensional.





5. This is an emergency exit. The video intercom is also here.





6. There are mailboxes next to the emergency exit and there is even a vending machine for drinks.





7. And these white boxes are a kind of safes for storing undelivered parcels and parcels. They are installed in all new houses. How does this system work? For example, I am a resident of apartment number 601, and I should receive a parcel with the Black Cat courier service. I left the house for the store, and at that moment the courier arrived. He rang the intercom a couple of times, realized that I was not there, and from the outside of the house he could put the parcel in one of the free compartments of this safe. When he puts the parcel in the box, he dials the number of my apartment, 601, and then writes me a notice: "So, they say, and so, I arrived and did not find you at home, I put the parcel in box number 1." I return home, read the notice, go to this device, attach my computer key to the entrance – the computer sees that the key to apartment number 601 is located, and opens a box in which there is a parcel intended for apartment 601.





8. Going Further... This is already the interior of the main hall, where the main entrance to the building is. Here, in the coolness (or warmth, depending on the season) of the air conditioner, you can sit, waiting for friends.





9. Simple jewelry.





10. Video intercom of the main entrance, larger.





11. On the first floors of buildings, near the elevator, there is a display showing a picture from the cabin. Well, for safety.





12. The picture, by the way, is of good quality.





13. The elevator itself is comfortable, there are even inscriptions in English. Indicates the next stop.





14. Some windows of the apartments overlook a shared balcony. Of course, they are closed with special iron shutters, but this does not add comfort... My friends are lucky – all their windows overlook the outer walls of the house.





15. This is what the entrance to the apartment looks like – a lamp with a number, a lamp at the bottom to illuminate the floor in the dark, an intercom. On the left is a special handle to hang an umbrella or bag while you open the door. The door itself is made of metal, however, not as heavy and durable as we have in Russia.





16. We finally got to the apartment itself. I will try to explain the layout as it turns out. On the right, you can see a white threshold where everyone leaves their shoes - this is the entrance. I'm standing in the hallway leading to the rest of the apartment. In the hallway there is still a wardrobe right along the course.





17. Now I've turned 180 degrees, and the hallway is behind me. On the left is the entrance to a small room, straight along the course is the entrance to the toilet.





18. Open the door on the left and look inside. A small living room, a desk, a TV, a futon (sleeping on the floor)... On the left (not visible) there is a large wardrobe. The lamps are all LED, large diameter. Pay attention to the socket under the ceiling - the builders have provided electrical and TV sockets even there.





19. Now look through the door that was right on the course. As you can see, there is a toilet here. Nowhere in Japan (except for hotels) have I seen combined bathrooms with toilets. Everything is always separate, and it happens that it is not even in the neighborhood. Another point is that by default, all new houses have controlled toilets - a remote control with buttons on the left.





20. After photo number 17, the corridor turns right. There are three doors here. The door on the left is the door to the bathroom (its first part). The door leads directly to the living room and kitchen. The door on the right is another small room. Let's take a look at it first.





21. Another living room. True, it serves as a dumping ground for all sorts of junk.





22. Now let's go straight through the door from photo 20, which leads to the living room and kitchen. Immediately on the left wall behind the door there is a kind of control panel for almost everything in the apartment. Joke. On the left there are light switches in all rooms, in the middle there is a control panel for gas and hot water in the bathroom, on the right there is an intercom.





23. Let's move on. On the left hand is the kitchen, where the hostess prepares a simple dinner. The kitchen has access to a small balcony. Large side-by-side refrigerator, hood above the stove... There are not very many cabinets for storing utensils - in fact, that's why there is a healthy saucepan in plain sight. Behind the refrigerator there is another door that leads to the bathroom. That is, in fact, there are two doors in the bathroom - one from the corridor (photo number 20) and the second from the kitchen.





24. Door to the kitchen balcony.





25. Now let's take a look in the bathroom (taken from the kitchen door). Large sink, mirrored cabinets for storing cosmetic products. On the left side of the wall is an auxiliary control panel for the bathroom – the functions of the dryer, sauna or air conditioner can also be controlled from here. The door directly to the bathroom itself is reflected in the mirror.





26. Look to the left - there is a washing machine (on a special tray, of course) and a little to the right you can see the door to the hall.





27. And this is the bathroom. With a window, beauty. Pay attention to the shower head and the floor – in Japan, you usually take a shower not in the bathroom itself, but standing (or sitting) here, on this rough plastic. A drain for water, of course, is provided (a small hatch under the bathtub). In the mirror, you can see the reflection of two more control panels - one for the bathroom, the second for the rest of the functions (sauna, etc.).





28. Go back to the living room. If I looked at photo number 23 again, with the kitchen, I found another door right behind me – it was the entrance to the master bedroom. I did not go inside, the owners were too shy, I took it out of the door. The room is large, spacious... European bed, computer desk, wardrobes, and there is also access to the loggia.





29. There is a small sofa in the living room.





30. To the left of the sofa there is something like a bedside table with the master's "treasures". Comics, tea book, family photos...





31. They got married relatively recently, in August the year before last, and before that they had been dating for a year and a half. By the way, they work together, in the same company as managers. At work, we met. A small wedding photo can be seen in the lower right part of the picture - it shows Eri-chan in a red dress.





32. Against the wall opposite there is an armchair and a chest of drawers with festive dishes.





33. To the right of the sofa is a TV and a PlayStation 3.





34. Well, how can you do without toys?





35. On the wall behind the TV there are supply and forced ventilation hatches. The air in the apartment is very clean, by the way.





36. Air conditioners are hanging in every room.





37. There is also a second exit to a large loggia (shared with the master bedroom). The doors are sliding everywhere - which, of course, is not very good due to weak tightness in the cold season. Oh, it's a pity, you can't glaze it, otherwise you can arrange another room.





38. Again, all new houses have washbasins with supplied water on balconies or loggias, so that it is more convenient to take care of the flowers.





39. Well, what about a Japanese house without bells and whistles? For example, this cordless robot vacuum cleaner. In Russia, by the way, it is sold with might and main.





40. It's time for lunch. The hosts treated us with what God sent... On this day, he sent them a large assortment of sushi, cold water with ice and some rolls.





41. I didn't eat this.





42. And this is what I have shaken everything.





43. A small digression to the question that the Japanese like to hang all sorts of things on the phone is one of the master's phones.





44. Kimura-san fooled around all the time and made faces. But seriously, and on the topic of the post, I will immediately answer some possible questions. The apartment is new, and they bought it the year before last on credit. In fact, the vast majority of Japanese new buildings are sold on credit for a period of 30 years. The interest rates are not very high, about three percent a year, and probably even less, somewhere between 2 and 2.5 percent. The square footage of the apartment is about 90, the cost at the time of purchase was about 35 million yen, now even less. Yes, yes, do not be surprised, Japanese real estate has an interesting property of becoming cheaper after purchase, so this option does not work as a tool for financial investment.





45. With that, thank you to Kimure-san and Eri-chan, and see you next time!





via barmoska.livejournal.com/