Month: September 2018

Uncategorized

Typhoon Trami

It’s 9:40pm in Osaka on Sunday, September 30.  The wind is howling and the rain is going sideways.  Typhoon Trami has arrived.  About 3 days ago, we began to hear that it’s projected path was headed towards Osaka.  Hearing this news brought me back to Hurricane Lane.  The hurricane that was projected to hit western […]

Read More
Uncategorized

Renting a car

After signing the lease on the apartment, the next step was to plan how to move our stuff from the AIRBNB in Nishinari-ku to our mansion in Yodogawa-ku, which is about 12 km away (how far way IS that?)  A taxi was out of the question since Michael would be at work and the boys […]

Read More
Uncategorized

Chicken or the Egg?

What’s the first order of business once a family of four lands in a new country?  Find a new place? Open a bank account?  Get cell phones?  We figured finding a place to live would be the first order of business.  Due to the fact that the majority of landlords require a guarantor (a Japanese […]

Read More
Uncategorized

House Hunters International Conclusion

We left off with Michael and Lori deciding between: House #1:Dated, 2 bathroom Osaka Castle mansion House #2: 1st floor rural, outdoor living House #3: Modern living in an urban setting. All of them had their pros and cons.  But as most of you know how the show goes, they cross out the one they […]

Read More
Uncategorized

IKEA

Ah IKEA…  I once decided to make my own entertainment center based off an IKEA design using 3/4″ plywood.  It took me probably 16 hours longer to make and cost more in raw materials than the IKEA version did.  Granted, you can’t put a price on the experience of crafting a piece of furniture with […]

Read More
Uncategorized

Our Own House Hunters International

Earlier this summer, I sent in an application to HGTV’s House Hunters International (much to my dear friend Blythe’s delight) to be on the show, but sadly, only received a auto-response saying they receive too many requests to respond individually. ☹  No matter–I’ll create my own version here! One thing to note: It surprises me […]

Read More
Uncategorized

Looks like we made it!

Boy, what a journey it was, schlepping 8 checked pieces of luggage, 2 car seats, a stroller, 4 carry-on items and 4 personal items on that Delta Airlines flight.  It didn’t help that the boys fell asleep just as we landed into Chubu Airport (of course!), so Michael and I had to carry most of […]

Read More
Uncategorized

…and we’re off!

We have tickets flying into Osaka Kansai International Airport.  The only problem is that Typhoon Jebi (typhoon #21) has left Kansai Airport inoperable for all but a handful of flights on Peach Aviation.  Since we are booked on Delta Airlines, we are pretty certain that our flight will get canceled, so we are considering a […]

Read More
Uncategorized

The First “Lasts”

We received the COE paperwork earlier than expected (yay!) which means we are able to pick up our passports on Monday!  After we dropped off the paperwork and passports to the Japanese Consulate, Michael and I both looked at each other with an “oh my, what have we just done?” expression on our faces.  Knowing […]

Read More
Uncategorized

KFC

Every so often, the desire to fill my stomach with delicious Kentucky Fried Chicken becomes an urge I can no longer ignore.  Like Spock and the Pon farr, Lori knows that it will only get worse until that itch gets scratched.  Leaving for Japan has me worried about a lot of things, not the least […]

Read More