LAND HO!

Perhaps.

Spent much of the last several days searching online for apartments. Thankfully much HAS changed from my last experience. There are rental properties being advertised in big, red letters “No deposit, No key money” with many others not advertising this fact but not charging for them all the same. Many are either advertised as gaijin friendly or the realtors are specifically geared towards us from parts abroad. Further, there are a great number of those that charge less for monthly rent than I am currently paying for family stuff each month; keeping the minivan’s gas tank full, cat food and litter, small amount of groceries when we run out and the like. When the first kid was expected, I rented a storage room to temporarily keep all the stuff we had not unpacked from moving in, too busy to complete that task, and other stuff that we kept in what would soon be the kid’s room. I had planned to go over to the shed often and sort the stuff out and no longer need it after a year or so. That was about 12 years ago. In addition to what was mainly my stuff, we now have the Christmas tree and decorations stowed there. The off season tires for my wife’s mini van, the cat cage we got when I rescued three kittens and their mother, a large, covered litter box and a whole bunch of stuff for babies and very young kids are free loading in the shed I pay ¥10,000 a month for and prevent easy access to my stuff. That will come to an end soon and give me more money to use each month on a new place. Difficulties remain though, so, we’ll see.