The Japanese Mansion of 57 Buttons

Lunch in the Mansion



View from the Mansion of 57 Buttons:


We are now in an apartment - called a Japanese "Mansion" - about 60 square meters - smaller than my daughter's college apartment. It has traditional sliding doors (Made of opaque plastic rather than rice paper these days) to separate the sleeping area from the living/dining room. We are sleeping traditional Japanese style - on futons on the floor - till we can figure out if there is a bed for a 6 ft tall American that can fit into the room - I'm not optimistic.

I've decided that the reason all those Asians do so well in school is because of the set up in their apartments. There are 57 control "buttons" in our apartment - almost one per square meter. I am about brain dead from trying to turn on the lights. My TV remote control back home is child's play compared to this. They include a control in the kitchen to automatically fill my bath at a certain time of day and to set my preferred bath water temperature... My washer/dryer plays a tune by Bach to tell me when it's finished the cycle... And there is a woman who speaks to us in the bathroom to tell us that the hot water is turned on. Greg is still trying to figure out where she is hiding.

The "Mansion" is in the Shinegawa area of Tokyo - to be close to Haneda Airport for Greg's work. We have a few pilot friends but most other residents in the area are Japanese with little English spoken. There is a park across the street with a Tokyo version of Austin's 360 Bridge - an arched pedestrian walkway over to Tokyo's World Trade Center area.

Unfortunately, our internet service is not working and our phones are local. Japanese holiday and vacation month is in August so no one is available to set up communications for us ..... It is a very strange feeling to be so cut off from everyone - I'm so used to instant email or phone. I have to take a cab some distance to get to an internet cafe or pay phone for now.