Tearing Down the House part 2

Usually workmen hang a heavy curtain around the property line before they tear down a house. That keeps the dust from spreading. These workmen put the poles but didn't put a curtain. We can see the laundry hanging from the line on the balcony of a neighboring apartment.

Also, note how thin the walls of this house were. That is an outside wall of the house. There was a piece of wood on the outside of that slatted piece. Then plywood with wall paper on the inside of the house.

The machine that broke the house also loaded the pieces onto the back of a truck. In this photo, pieces of the tin roof are being loaded. See the man standing in the bed of the truck? Click to enlarge the picture and you can see the vegetable stand man standing by. Dangerous!

The pieces of tin were crushed with the crane and then wood from the house was stacked on top.

They tore down the fence and the trees, too.

Tearing Down the House

Work at the vegetable stand continued as they tore down the house. The vegetable stand man's wife just finished washing leeks. A workman held a hose on the house as the bulldozer tore into the house.

Getting Ready to Tear Down the House

This is the house next to the vegetable stand in our parking lot. Our vegetable stand man doesn't live here. His sister-in-law lives here. Her son is building a new house for her and his young family.

Usually, a curtain is draped around the property line before the house is torn down.

This workman is bringing an old blanket out of the house. He put it on a junk pile.

Junk is sometimes piled up to be thrown away with the debris of the old house.

Next Steps of Building a House

A few days ago, I posted a picture of this field. Houses will be built here. Tape was put to show where the houses will stand.

A big drill was brought. It will drill spaces for the foundations of the houses.

New Housing Site

That used to be a grove of trees. It was owned by a nursery. The trees were moved. The land was cleared and a small "street" was built. Four or five houses will be built around this street. Each will have entrances or gates that will open to the small street.

These pictures were taken from our roof garden.

Pink Roses

A drugstore and its parking lot were built near this old house. Fortunately, they didn't tear up the pink roses to put the parking sign. We walk past this house and love the pink roses in the spring and fall.

Click on the picture to see the detail of the house.

Spider Web

Our four little kittens have kept us busy and close to home. (They eat three times a day and need exercise and attention.) So, here's a spider's web in our bay laurel tree. Click to enlarge.

This summer there were lots of spiders! Do a blog search to find the posts.

Also, look at the wires on the outside of our neighbor's house. It's not unusual to see plumbing and wires on the outside of houses here.

Noren

Look over the gate. The front door is open because it is a really hot day. There is no screen. There is a blue cloth hanging in the doorway. That is a noren. Noren are sometimes hung in doorways inside the house, too. Or in shops.

Electric Shutters

Our shutters were posted a week or so ago, but here they are again. I didn't say much about them last time. Here, Baba is opening them. They are electric. She can push a button and lower or raise them. Our shutters on the second floor have to be closed and opened manually by sliding them. Most people have manual shutters.

See the basketball hoop? That's a picture of Michael Jordan. We got it at TOYS "R" US many years ago.

There are shutters on the sliding doors to the garden. Those are great grandfather's ume (plum) bonsai trees in front of the door. As you can see the morning glories aren't doing so well.

Bat House

 

We think this is where the bats live. We'll go down at dusk someday to see. Click to enlarge.

Summer Floor Coverings

Stores sell rugs and floor coverings throughout the year. During the summer months, they sell floor coverings that are made of woven straw. These are not tatami, the traditional straw mats. These rugs would be used on a wooden floor or even in a washitsu, a room with traditional tatami built into the floor. We have used straw rugs to protect the tatami from summer sweat. The rugs can easily be taken outside and aired out in the sun in the garden or on the balcony.

Most of these straw floor coverings or rugs are plain. Some have designs. This one has dragonflies on it. Dragonflies are a summery motif that is used on fans, handkerchiefs and yukata, etc.

Do a blog search for pictures of yukata, dragonflies, etc. or go to the archives and click on June, July, or August 2006 to see more summer pictures. The label below will show a few of the posts as well.

Our Garden Gate

This is the garden gate we have now. It has a combination lock. This is not a typical gate. In the past, delivery people used to come into our gate, open up the front door, stand in the entry hall, and shout for us to come to the door. We have lot of deliveries, but other salespeople whom we don't know come, too. I miss the old way, but this gate provides more privacy.

When we want to enter the gate, we have to push on this little door at the top right hand corner of the gate.

The door opens to reveal buttons. We have a combination of numbers that we have to push. Then we have to push the bottom button that says "endo" or "end".

When a visitor or a delivery person comes, he has to ring the doorbell to talk to us. There are two doorbells (on the right). The top one has a 2F sticker on it. The other has 1F sticker. We live on the second floor. Baba and Aunt live on the first floor.

There is an intercom and camera on the doorbells, too. We can see and talk to a visitor or delivery person from the first floor and from the second floor. We can open the gate from both floors. We can also talk to the first floor from the second floor using the intercom.

The long slot under the name plate is the mailbox.

This is the mailbox on the inside of the gate. We lift the door to get the mail. The button next to the mailbox opens the gate from the inside. There is also a latch on the inside of the gate.

A Gate in the Neighborhood

Here is a wooden gate in our neighborhood. On the left is a gate for their driveway. Click on the picture to see the detail of the wall. It looks like a temple wall.

Charcoal Air Freshener

This air freshener has a liquid made of charcoal in the bottom. A wick absorbs the liquid and emits a scent through the top. There was also an unscented one available.

The instructions are written on the back. There are also pictures to show you what to do to set it up. Many products and manuals have pictures to show you what to do and what not to do.

There were also pictures to show that you can put it in the living room, entry hall, and bedroom. Note the kind of bed that is pictured. It's what Big Sister and Little Brother used to call an "up bed".

Driveway Gate

Houses usually have a wall or a fence around them. This house has a driveway behind it, so a big gate was needed. This one is unusual because it lifts up. It's probably lifted manually. I got pictures from two different angles, but didn't notice a motor.

Birds' Ledge

Walking to the station near the American school, I saw lots of birds twittering around. Two broke away from the rest and landed here. I'll have to look up the name of these birds. Do any of you know what it is?

The owner of this house put a ledge for them to build a nest over the garage. Can you see them up there? Note the little street garden and the roll down door.

Model Kitchen

It's now the season to go to the garden shop at the hardware store. I took a picture of this model kitchen inside the store. Of course, there are other choices. This is just basic. Except for the corner cabinet. I have never seen one of those here!

There is usually a big space between the counter and the upper cabinets. The cabinets are too high. We need a stool to get things from them. That is a dishwasher on the counter on the right. There is a water filter next to the sink. Look how big the sink is!

Click on the label below to see another kitchen and how some people wash dishes here.

Kids Web Japan--houses

Our Water Heater

We don't have a water heater tank. Water is heated as it comes through the pipe. This is our water heater control. It is on the wall just inside the kitchen door. There is another one on the wall near the bathtub. To have hot water to wash our hands and face at the sink in the bathroom (actually the laundry room), we have to turn on the water heater in the kitchen or in the bathtub's room. (As you may know, in Japan, the bathtub has its own room!)

The button on the top right hand corner is the on/off button. The little green light tells us it is turned on. The water is extremely cold in the winter so we set the water heater at 41 degrees Celsius. The temperature can be lowered by pushing the button with the blue arrow pointing down. The button with the red arrow pointing up will raise the water temperature.

The square button in the bottom right hand corner is for the bath. We can fill the tub from the kitchen! Of course, we have to have scrubbed the tub and put the stopper in first. Those things aren't automatic--yet!

As the bathtub is filling up, the light on the button flashes. When the tub is full, this heater beeps. The button light stops flashing and stays on. The bath will stay hot for four hours.

Open the cover and more buttons are revealed.

From this kitchen control, we can set a timer for the tub to be filled. After the bath is made, you can warm it up or cool it down. I'll post about the control buttons in the bath at another time.