Tokyo - Life, Part II

Our Neighborhood
We are 15 miles outside of downtown Tokyo.  I guess you'd say we live in the suburbs or the "greater Tokyo area."  We live in Higashimurayama, in a small neighborhood called Tamakocho.

Our house is situated between two train stations, each about a three minute walk away.  To the west is a large lake, stretching to a mile long with a park.  There are two or three canals, flowing from the lake from west to east, through the adjacent neighborhoods.  To the north is a large amusement park, golf course and an outdoor cycling velodrome that holds Keirin races (more on that in a later post.)  To the northeast is another park, this one a forested mountain with a flower garden.  There is a grocery store within walking distance from our house and a few small restaurants but not much else.

It's a very quiet, low-key neighborhood.  Almost every house is a two-story affair, usually wooden.  This is our block looking west.  We chose to be far away from Tokyo for a number of reasons.  First, we wanted quiet.  Second, you get a lot more space.  Lastly, out here almost nobody speaks English.  All interactions have to be done in Japanese.  We are forced to practice every day.

This is our block looking east. 

Our neighborhood is so small that every house fits neatly on a small billboard outside the train station.  It shows the name of every homeowner in the neighborhood.  This is how you find someone's house if you're visiting them for the first time.  You look up their name and see how to get there.

Everyone takes great care of their houses and yards.  Almost every shrub and tree is shaped and trimmed neatly.  It's all the more beautiful for the season - the cherry trees are just beginning to blossom.  Our landlady recommended that we go out once a week in the morning and sweep in front of the house.  It's a good way to meet neighbors and practice Japanese.  We've yet to try it but we will soon.

The train station to our east goes back and forth between our neighborhood and one about a mile away.  An entire train line and station for a one mile trip.  At the end of the line get off in a larger station from which you can catch a variety of other local and regional trains.  When we start our Japanese class we'll take this train one stop and then switch to a rapid train into Tokyo.  The whole trip will take about 45 minutes.

Our little train runs three times an hour.  It sits in the station in between trips.

Every morning Dodo runs in the park near the large lake.  Surprisingly, you can see all the way to snow-capped Mt Fuji.

We live on a hill overlooking our neighborhood.  At the bottom of the valley, there are fields full of onions.

There are also rice fields squeezed between the houses.  I never expected to see something like this so close to Tokyo.

I am not sure what kind of flowers they grow in the flower garden at the eastern edge of the neighborhood.  They are mounds sitting inside flooded fields.  They're just beginning to grow shoots.  We'll find out soon.

Others are already in bloom.