Tag Archives: Tokyo

Tiniest Tokyo Apartment Ever?

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If I live off base when I deploy to Japan, I want to be ready. So that means apartment shopping. Craigslist – as usual – seems to have quite a stable of ready places to check out. I will say, being a lumbering American, that I am highly suspicious when a place advertises itself as: 198ft² – Tiniest apartment ever? But sure is cheap!

The bathrooms in Japan befuddled me last time I was there. From the above “tiny/cheap” place, here is the bathroom shot and some relevant details below:

JPY56000 / 1br - 198ft² - Tiniest apartment ever? But sure is cheap. NO KEY MONEY FTW.

JPY56000 / 1br – 198ft² – Tiniest apartment ever? But sure is cheap. NO KEY MONEY FTW.

Transportation:

Asagaya Station, (12 min. walk ) JR Chuou Line ( Kaisoku ) / JR Chuou Soubu Line

***22 minutes to 東京 (Tokyo）***
***27 minutes to 六本木(Roppongi)***
***18 minutes to 渋谷(Shibuya)***
***8 minutes to 新宿(Shinjuku)***
***29 minutes to 麻布十番(Azabujuban)***
***32 minutes to 田町(Tamachi) from 阿佐ヶ谷(Asagaya)***

Rent:54000
Monthly maintenance fee:2000
Year build:2007
Room type:1R
Floors: 2
Deposit: 1mth
Key money: 0mth
Agency Fee: 1mth

I love how the toilet connects to the sink which connects to the shower!

Yakuza Snack Club

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Redemption is one of life’s great gifts. And the story of former Yakuza toughie Tatsuya Shindo, who runs a Japanese “snack” club called June Bride, is among the better examples I’ve heard of it:

June Bride’s proprietor is Tatsuya Shindo, and he is not a barman. From the age of 20, Shindo peddled stimulants in and around Tokyo for a gangster family under the nationwide Sumiyoshi-kai yakuza syndicate. After several stints in jail, he decided to start offering something else entirely: the gospel.

Tatsuya Shindo

“I know how bad I was and the bad things I have done,” says Shindo, 39, thin-framed and sporting a devilish bit of chin stubble. “At the same time, I know how much I was forgiven by God. So I wanted to engage myself in God’s work.”

Now, inside this converted bar, the former gangster presides over the Friends of Sinners Jesus Christ Church, where he takes the pulpit and preaches to former troublemakers on the mend. “They are seeking divine intervention,” says Shindo, a Kawaguchi native, of his congregants. “They want God to help them with their problems.”

I suppose the cynic would look askew at Tatsuya. So be it. He need not care.

Sleeping in a Cat Carrier

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You wanna know what it is like sleeping in the enlisted berthing compartment on an aircraft carrier? Check out the Capsule & Sauna Century Shibuya in Tokyo:

Manager Akiyoshi Kaneko stands by the rooms at the Capsule & Sauna Century Shibuya in Tokyo. The capsule concept has been around for at least 30 years, starting out as lodging for businessmen working or partying late who missed the last train home and needed a cheap place to crash. But budget travelers and other folks curious about a unique lodging experience use them too.

Although I doubt the Capsule & Sauna Century Shibuya smells like socks.

Slow Roping

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The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force is going hand over hand in descending from these helicopters. I believe in Japanese it is called 遅いローピング.

You gotta love that UH-60 helo. It is one versatile bird:

Members of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force rappel down from a UH-60JA helicopter during the annual live-fire drill at the Higashi Fuji training range in Gotemba, southwest of Tokyo.

As for myself, I’ve always found this exercise rappelling. . .