Home Sweet Home

Welcome to our new home y’all!

After searching almost a year for the perfect place to call our own we have found a spacious and beautiful apartment in the heart of Tokyo. Located in Minami-Azabu this luxury low-rise filled almost every box on our check list-and believe me, it was a fairly extensive and specific one. It’s not the high-rise we had last time with a view of Tokyo Tower, but the space and location cannot be beat.

This neighborhood is by many foreign embassies, the French Embassy being the closest, and is only a stone’s throw away from the very lush Arisugawa Memorial Park. There are numerous markets nearby, an international one included, and many yummy spots to eat and places to shop. It’s also convenient to several subway stations. Did I mention the apartment is larger than our current home in California?

We are incredibly excited because our new home is pretty much a dream come true, not to mention a huge step up rom our last one 8 years ago. Are you ready for a tour now? I know I’m ready to see it again!

The living and dining areas are one very large room. Filled with natural light and high ceilings it is a warm, welcoming space. The entire living area can be closed off from the bedrooms and foyer entry which is lovely for privacy, and as the Japanese really understand the art of making use of every inch of space not one is wasted. Can you see the entrance to the galley kitchen and fourth bedroom/study? The wall in-between is actually built in cabinet storage. Smart!

I ADORE the kitchen! Like the living and dining area it is well lit and made with beautiful materials. The use of white cabinets along the bottom with the white quartz countertops make the space look open, helping it to flow seamlessly from the living into the cleaning area. And did you notice the very large refrigerator with wine fridge? Y’all know that’s going to be well used.

Nothing too special here, but having an individual washer and dryer in an apartment is a luxury, and one we all take for granted. Trust me. One of the apartments we loved had a single washer/dryer unit and that would make laundry day very interesting-not to mention endless. I can’t even imagine but it’s something most live with and if necessary, we would have, too.

The bathrooms are a favorite of mine. You can laugh, but until you’ve experienced warmed bathroom floors and toilet seats during winter at 5 am you don’t know what you’ve been missing. The materials are gorgeous as well. Modern Venetian mirrors, stacked stone walls, marble floors and oodles of storage, the Japanese understand the creature comforts Westerners favor and definitely cater to them.

The bedrooms are large for Japanese standards, the natural light and hardwoods continuing from the living areas, and while the master and Jackson’s room have storage space in closets built into the walls, Madeline has a very nice walk in. Lucky girl! Making her luckier yet is the gorgeous bedding she has from Restoration Hardware, but then we all have some pretty things being shipped and that is something I CANNOT wait to share with you all! More than likely that won’t happen until August. Sea freight can take between 4-7 weeks to arrive, sometimes longer. God willing it will be the least amount of time so we can make this new house our home!

Until then you’ll have to settle for our adventures and shenanigans as we settle into our new normal in Japan. And won’t that be a chore?

Thanks so much for coming on our home tour and sharing in our excitement! There’s more to come so stay tuned. It’s less than a month until we take off to Tokyo!