Hi everyone! SO this is my first posting on my offical 'Japan' blog! I'm still in the states, but I received some pics of my apt. in Japan and thought I'd share them!
Here is our building, which is fairly usual for Japan:

This is the teeny-tiny kitchen Steve will have to use! (Poor guy!)

This is the main living area- our living room, dining room, and work room all in one!

This is a shot from the hallway:

There is a small loft where we will have to crawl into to sleep at nigth on our futons, but it should be nice and cozy on cold winter nights. There's not much snow in the winter and I don't think it gets brutally cold, but there's very little insulation in Japanese buildings, so it will be cold inside all the same!

Now that I've finally had orientation and talked with my predecessor, my nerves are ebbing away and the excitement is starting to infuse me! It will be hard to leave Door County, it's been such a wonderful summer staying up here! The only problem is that I really haven't had all that much time to enjoy it. I've spent a good deal of time getting ready for Japan and setting up my website. But now that I only have about a week left, I'm going to make the most of it!
The weather and scenery is great here and the people can't be beat, but I'm beginning to get enough of the country living. We're on a farm right now and its cool and all, but I'm getting a little tired of the spiders, gnats, bugs and BATS that seek into our cabin!
Well, I'm going to get offline and get outside to enjoy the day!

Ja ne! ('later' in Japanese!)
Erin