apartments

Did some errands in the morning and then Shimizu-chan from Roy Organization picked us up and we went to look at a bunch of apartments. The first one, in Mita, was the owner's own place on the top floor of a slick building. Stunning view; Tokyo Tower, private club's Japanese garden, 270 panoramic with nothing coming even close to the apartment's 16th floor. However, it was definitely a single-guy pad. Huge bathroom with window that looked into the living room (for unobstructed views), a steam sauna, a window in the bedroom looking into the tatami room next to it (again for unobstructed views), and one giant, square main room. With stunningly tacky furniture. Nice, for someone, but not us.
Next was Chanex; actually quite a killer apartment: huge balcony, huge carpeted master bedroom with huge walk-in closet, huge kitchen with all GE appliances, huge carpeted living-dining room, and all the trimmings like central air, oven, fridge, washer/dryer. Alas, the bathroom was one of those horrible unit-baths: a solid piece of molded plastic for the wallsfloorceilingsinktoiletshowertub. Totally out-of-place and just ruined the whole apartment.
After that we checked out a typically nice Japanese place right behind Ebisu Garden Place (a bit TOO close to work.) It was perfectly normal; air-conditioner in every room, dark wood doors and trim, nice Japanese bath. Narrow stair climb up to the 2nd floor entrance, quite residential neighborhood, nice Japanese "system kitchen" (no oven.) Not thrilling at all, but Hiroko liked it.
Then we saw an old apartment on the 9th floor of an old mansion (condo building). One of these typical old-school Japanese half-ass buildings: nice lobby, elevator up to 9th floor, then walk outside past all the front doors (like a motel.) Problem was this apartment was on the very end, and the overhead ended just before the front door, meaning in the rain you'd have to open your umbrella again just to get into your front door. Big place, but...strange. Huge roof balcony, except for the giant air-vent right in the middle, making the whole space impractical. Big main room with a ceiling split at inopportune places with massive ceiling beams. Two carpeted rooms, plus a 'walk-in closet' which was just a third small, windowless room (no racks for clothing or anything.) Typical nice bathroom. The kitchen was big and old; a long metal counter with a sink at one end, the stove at the other, and basically some old-school cabinets and a bunch of open space, in the middle of which must go the refrigerator.
Then we checked out a bunch of apartments in Roppongi. Location was right across the street from Roppongi Hills, and was kind of noisy. Apartments were okay; spacious, two bathrooms (one in the master bedroom) that were typical western toilet/shower/bath/sink but not horrible unit baths, and for some reason all the closets had locks with keys (but none of the internal doors had locks.)
Finally we headed to Motoazabu, a short walk from Azabujyuban, to check out Casa Blanca. As expected, it was white. The entrance hall echoed madly and even had a stained-glass window, adding to the church-like experience. Stepping through the front door there's a monstrous genkan (entrance hall) with cool wooden doors covering mountains of closet space. Then through a big glass door into the carpeted main living-dining. Huge, south facing, and lovely. The kitchen was...odd. Orange floor, red tiles, white cabinets that were probably original, washer and dryer, stove and oven that were definitely new. The first bathroom had brown wallpaper that could only be called heinous. The two bedrooms were carpeted and spacious, with good closet space, too. The bathroom was blue-tiled; sink, toilet, sunken recess with shower, and sunken tub. Could seriously use at least a shower curtain. The balcony stretched from the main room around to the master bedroom. It was spacious enough, but only accessible by climbing out the window. Central air, excellent light, I loved it. Hiroko would have nothing to do with it: kitchen and bathroom were unacceptable, carpet color and bathroom wallpaper NG. Location was perfect, size was great...oh well.
I love looking at apartments. Hiroko absolutely hates it, but she must realize by now that if she doesn't actively participate in the process we'd end up in Casa Blanca and she'd have to kill me.