HELLO 

Do you know ZABUTON ?

It’s a cushion we use when we sit on the floor.

As you may know,
We Japanese used to sit on the floor, with a low table in the tatami living / dining room.

But if you sit directly on the floor…
That will hurt your legs, right?

So that is why we use ZABUTON- the cushion to sit on.

Also, it was one of the way to show our ‘OMOTENASHI’ too- when customers come to your house, we always took out the ZABUTON for them.

These days, the style of living changed to ‘Western-style’ and most of us use the table and a chair to sit and eat, and the room floor is flooring.

But it may be quite a good option to have a low table with ZABUTON, in a tatami room- you may feel the breeze of Japanese tradition.

Enjoy your life in Tokyo, Japan 

Hello!

The SAKURA is beginning to end the season,
And the new season is starting to come up in Tokyo.

All the trees will turn green from the white/pink SAKURA- which is also beautiful view.

Have to get ready for the picnic!

April is the beginning of the new period in Japan.
So many new comers start to join the company- like your school or your job.

What we do first to welcome them,
Is the welcome party— which means to go drink with your coworkers.

It is said that there are some ‘rules’ or ‘manners’ for the drinking scene in Japan.

For example…
-When you take your seat, you have to sit closer to the entrance (of the room) than your boss.
-When you make a toast and hit the glass to your boss, you cannot make your glass higher than your boss.

These may be quite OLD-STEREO typed rules,
And it is NOT that every single person in Japan follow these rules and you have to do it too,
But it is true that many of us follow / be aware of these.

It may help your NOMIKAI- if you knew these Japanese rules?

Hope you’ll have a great one　:)

Hi!

It became SAKURA – HANAMI season now in Tokyo!

Have you ever heard of it?

It’s a traditonal way to enjoy the SAKURA- cherry blossom.

I’ll intorduce my favourite HANAMI areas in Tokyo :)!

(1)YOYOGI Park
Nearest station : Harajuku / Shibuya / Yoyogi station
It’s a HUGE park in Harajuku aea!
Good point about this is about the AREA!
As you know, Harajuku aera have THOUSANDS of shops and cute sweets shops!
You can buy the foods / sweets here and enjoy it in the park ; )
And no fees to enter the park!

(2)SHINJUKU GYOEN Park
Nearest station: Shinjuku Gyoen Mae / Shinjuku station
The location is great, and the SAKURA in this park is REALLY beautiful.
The combination of traditional Sakura and the modern buildings in Shinjuku makes the view.
You need to buy a ticket to enter, but it must be worth paying it.

(3)Meguro river
It is a stream along the Meguro area.
Sakura bloomed along the Meguro river is one of the MUST thing you got to see when you come here in Tokyo.
There are many cafe and restaurants along the river too,
so you can enjoy the coffee with the Sakura too :)!

I’m planning to go HANAMI soon too.

Hope you’ll enjoy the Japanese SAKURA!

Thank you 🙂

Hello : )

Have you used a public transportation in Tokyo?

Transportation in Tokyo is quite exact (well, I think),
and is really convenient- I even think you don’t need any cars in Tokyo.

Not only the train- but the buses are also quite exact and easy to use too!
(Actually I use the bus to come to my office too!)

If you just see the road map,
you might feel dizzy- it is too complicated on the paper.

There are so many stations in Tokyo.
And especially in the middle of Tokyo,
there are many stations that you can even walk to the next station.

Anyway.
Since you might feel complicated on the map,
there are two tools that I really recommend!

1)route search application
Of course you can use the google map too,
but these applications are really convenient- you can know how much it will cost, how long it takes, and even shows you several routes to go to the station.
Just search 乗り換え検索　online- I’m sure you can find one!

2)SUICA / PASMO
These are a prepaid e-money card, and you can use for both transportation fee and shopping!
You just have to charge the money at the station- and then no need to buy the ticket every time you get on the train/bus, or no need to take your wallet to buy some sweets at the convenience store.

Hope this will help your life in Tokyo : )

Thank you!

Hello!

Today, I will explain what you at least need for the application to the apartment.

Usually, after you decide an apartment,
the process goes like this:

Apply to the apartment
↓
Scanning process (at the owner side)
↓
Once you pass through the scanning process…
↓
Confirm about all the information about the apartment
↓
Pay the initial fee
Sign the contract paper.

And when you ‘APPLY’ to the apartment,
these are what you usually need:

1. Copy of your ID (residence card)
2. A document that can proof your income (Work certification, pay slip for 3 months, etc…)

If you don’t have these,
the apply tend to be not accepted by the owner side.

The apartment will be on the market until the apply is accepted by the owner,
it would be better if you can prepare all the documents beforehand : )

But sometimes, there is a situation that you cannot prepare the documents above.

Let us know in that case!

We are very professional in this,
we can find a way to solve it.

Thank you!