Summer vacation has come and gone, and it was a hot one. The weather in parts of Japan reached the highest temperatures in 74 years. Nagano's heat was not record, but it was hot enough to make our move to a new home very tiring. It's just about done, now, so starting today, we will begin the monumental task of unpacking everything.


The new house is a rental, costing us about the same as the small apartment we were in. We have double the size now, plus plenty of storage and a yard for the girls to play in. Moving was a task, and we owe lots of thanks to Paul and Leon Hale, who drove up from Nagaoka for a day to help with the large firniture items. And thanks to Tomomi's brother, Tadahiko, cousin Megumi and her husband Hayato who helped with the last minute items. The heat was tough at times, and I went through bottles of iced tea every day (barley tea, non-sugar). The only thing left to do now is disconnect the internet connection here and take the computer over to the new house.

In the middle of the move, we took a day off to go to the Gunma Safari Park and let Anri see some animals. Located in the next prefecture from Nagano, the Safari Park is the drive through type, and Anri had a blast seeing zebras and giraffes walking right past her window. Later on, we got a photo taken with a lion cub. Look in the photo below. That is a real lion I am holding. Anri was a big scared it would eat her.

After seven years in this apartment, we have finally had enough. So we are moving, beginning next week, across town into a house.

Our new home, though only a rental, is where we're going to be until we can get through the red tape around the land we own, An average sized house by Japanese standards, it has plenty of room, including storage space, and best of all, a yard for Anri and Sara to play in. Another good thing is storage space. There are walk-in closets in the bedrooms and storage cases outside; much more than we have now.

The apartment served us well for a time, but after Anri was born and the toys started piling up, we realized the place was getting smaller and smaller. Having had enough, Tomomi was online looking at Yahoo Japan's real estate pages when she came across a single listing for a rental house in the town we live in. There are thousands of apartments available, but a free standing home? Just this one. We jumped at the chance and went to see it the next day.J

apan is an odd country concerning real estate. There is some sort of thinking here that you should never buy a house that has already been lived in. As a result of this mindset, nobody sells their home, nor are there ever any buyers interested in buying one. So, once you build a house, the value of that house only goes down. After twenty years, your house is worth nothing, and the land it is on is worth whatever the market value is. Sales below market value almost never happen, and the only way to get lucky and sell your land at a much higher price is if the local rail line suddenly decides to put a new station in the neighborhood.

At this point, we have already started preparing for the move. Boxes of books, music, DVDs and other stuff is already stacked in nearly every room, and we are finally going to get the key to the house on Friday -- a chance to clear some things out of here. As we make some progress, I will snap a few photos.