Adjusting to my Tokyo apartment

I have been quite busy this week finishing a draft of a journal paper, so I didn’t have much energy for writing on my blog. Every since I moved in to this very small apartment, I have really felt that it lacked spirit of some kind. Therefore, already very soon after I came here, I bought some colourful towels, a bath curtain, and a few artificial flowers. In addition, I went and bought those one-piece figures, book holders and some manga magazines, but even so it still felt pretty plain.

I got a tip from one of the guys in the lab about a place called francfranc which sells various things for your home. I went to the one located around Shinjuku station, and I came back with two bags of stuff. Japanese people really have a sense of service, and actually one of the things I’ve appreciated most so far is quite simple. If you buy something in most stores and the bag is heavy, they tape some additional padding on the handle to make it feel nicer, and in my case they also double bagged it. In addition, since it was raining, the put a small raincoats on my bags. ^^

These are the things I ended up with from francfranc this time (might come back ^^)

After also going to Daiso and buying lots of stuff really cheap, I went back and started putting up the new stuff I bought. I mainly went for pink or generally very colourful things – I usually don’t do this but I think I’ve been smitten by the Japanese love for “cutesy” items.

Anyway, if you saw the images from when I just moved in, you should notice the change in the images I’m posting today. ^^ Starting out with the bathroom where I added a few things, and changed the original shower curtain with the only colourful one I could find. I feel it has a little bit more spirit now.

Next is the kitchen where the main issue is a lack of space. I bought a small toaster and generally have that and the water boiler standing on the only free space. I also bought some small hooks mounted by tape in Daiso so I could hang some kitchen utils on the walls, making space for other things in the cupboard.

And of course the hooks are in different colors (the hidden one is yellow)…

I added an artificial flower to bring some color to the other side of the kitchen as well, and also put a hook up for the brush.

One of the things I bought was an flowery apron and a cooking glove, and I hung those on the wall to spice up the boring yellow/white-ish wall.

Even the cooking glove is very cutesy and shaped as a heart ^^

I also bought new plates, knives, forks, and spoons, and those got a spot on top of the fridge. The new forks, knives, and spoons were placed in my new wooden holder along with my chopsticks, and I’m quite happy with the result – a hint of nature. ^^

And under the plates hides a squirrel!!

Finally I spiced up the living/bedroom as well (I guess everything except the toilet in in principle the same room though). I added artificial flowers to my desk lamp..

Replaced the white, hospital-like, bed covers with new ones, added some denim pillows (and a donut + pikachu)…

…and put some artificial leafs on the wall (I was desperate to get rid of that completely blank yellowish wall, and right now this was the best I could do ^^).

When looking around from in front of my laptop, I see a bit more colors now – even though the walls are still very white-yellow in most places. 😛

So now it is starting to feel a bit less plain and boring, but I think I’ll try to go look for some anime posters for the other wall soon. Well then with that, I’ll head to bed. では、そろそろ寝ます。