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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Our Future Home

Well, the verdict is in. My husband and I will spend the next year of our lives in Iruma, Japan, a smallish city on the far outskirts of Tokyo. According to Wikipedia, Iruma is...

"a city in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, located on the island of Honshū. As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 150,176. Iruma and neighboring Sayama are famous for the tea they produce. Iruma also has well-known textile and brewery industries."

So far, I've been unable to determine how many miles Iruma is from Tokyo because I suck at judging distances. My guess is that Tokyo is close enough for day trips, but too far to travel for dinner or bar hopping. However, since Iruma is apparently famous for its well-known brewery industries, we'll likely have all the drinks we can handle, right in our own city. The employer also sent us a layout of our apartment and it's either two or three bedrooms, which is larger than any place we've lived in the U.S. Sweet!

Yesterday we received our Certificates of Eligibility in the mail, and now the only thing left to do is send the certificates and various other documents to Atlanta so that we may get our entry Visas. That and pack, move, sell our cars, sell our desktop, buy a laptop, drop off our cats, etc., etc., etc. The trip/move finally seems real now!!

7 comments:

Random Musings said...

WEEHHoooo
i can not wait for pictures

Anonymous said...

It's approx. 45 minutes on the express line from Iruma to Ikebukuro station, the closest big city station to you in Tokyo. From there, take the Yamonote line for Shinjuku, which I recommend for good nightlife. About another 10 minutes. Be careful of rush hour when you're heading back home at night, it tends to get crowded! :-)

Good adventuring!

P.S. Like the new design

Erin said...

How exciting!!

It sounds absolutely scary and fabulous all at the same time - Enjoy yourself because it is definately the adventure of a lifetime :)

Battlerocker said...

I can't wait for pictures either. I'd be so excited. Enjoy it!

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

Congratulations on the news! It's always great to find out where exactly you'll be living. It makes it feel more real.

Have fun with all the crazy preparations and stuff. Not sure if anyone's told you about what to stock up on - deodorant, toothpaste... there are quite a few things that are best for you to bring with you. Drop me a line if you'd like any advice. My friends and I always stock up on certain things when we go home or get family/friends to bring them over when they visit.

Anonymous said...

Consider Tokyo and all of it's satellite cities to be like one big huge city cause there's no real beginning and end like in America. It's a continuous stream of buildings from Tokyo all the way to Iruma.

You can get more or less any western product here in Japan although it tends to be expensive and may not be easily found around your neighborhood. Stocking up on the necessities like Melanie said is a good idea.

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