Welcome to Kurokami Sunrise

Although it’s nowhere near being finished, I thought I’d give a little tour of my apartment here in Kumamoto. It’s not the biggest, but definitely more than enough space for just me, or any guests who want to visit *hint hint*.

I’m currently trying to put my own stamp on it, which is something that will take time, mainly due to people stopping me from buying “unnecessary” Hello Kitty items to fill the place up. I know I’ve started to hit adulthood though, since I now enjoy homeware stores a little too much, and my most exciting purchases lately were a blender and a kettle.

I have two tatami rooms, which I have a definite love/hate relationship with. The tatami is super comfortable to sit on, looks cute and I’m actually fond of the strange smell it has. However, I’m forever paranoid about spilling even the slightest bit of water, god forbid anything else, and it’s a nightmare wanting to move furniture without ripping it.

I’m still not used to the fact I have no dividing walls, just sliding doors I have to be more delicate with. That’s not to say I’m still not as heavy handed as I used to be, I pulled my shower off of the wall and hulked the door handle off all in the space of 5 minutes. All is well now, but next time I’m blaming it on an earthquake.

It’s lovely though now its cooler, and I can open all my windows and balcony doors and get a lovely breeze through my entire apartment. My balcony has a nice view of my neighbourhood and the river, while I love to nose at the main road when I’m cooking. That’s definitely going to be the scene from a zombie movie one day though; something about the konbini (convenience store) being the only light source on the road and my neighbourhood being so eerily quiet lends itself to the plotline quite nicely.

I live a little further from downtown than others, but not too far from Kumamoto University. Hopefully now their year is starting again, I’ll be able to befriend some cute students at the kobini to make up for it. There’s a little old lady in my neighbourhood, whose name I’m yet to learn, who shouts good morning at me from down the road most days too.

I’ve only met two of my neighbours, as they’re either too shy or home very late from work, but both were lovely. Even though I haven’t seen life in my building since, I don’t actually mind how silent my neighbourhood is at night.

It’s got a long way to go while I clear out all the stuff left from previous ALT’s, since I aim to stay here a little while. I said in the beginning, “I want it to look like a unicorn has thrown up in here”. Who knows, when I’m done it could be like a wacky warehouse of plush toys… they are my weakness.