Comings and Goings

Soon there will be a change in living circumstances (again), only this time because one of my housemates is moving out. And that means he's gonna be replaced. With who, I just don't know.

Speculation abounds! Will they be nice? Mental? Void of personality? Right now, only time will tell.

This is the problem you always get when you choose to live with people. You don't get any say in the matter.

All this talk of living with people reminds me of my student days... (FLASHBACK WIGGLY LINES)

It is 2006. I am in my room in a rather large house I share with eight people. Music is playing and it is a cold winter evening. I am relaxed.
The floor is warm and i am grateful because it is chilly out. Then I realise - the floor is too warm. I hear shouting, then an alarm sounds. As I make my way downstairs, I see the smoke and it dawns on me what is happening.
The front door is open. My housemate is trying to waft the billowing smoke out of it. In the kitchen below my room, near the bins that have recently been de-maggotted, flames several feet high lick their way up the walls. Cause of fire - a pan of hot fat on the stove has been neglected while pasta simmers in confusion nearby. i look at the rising flames and think - I have to move.

Perhaps I am done living with people, then. So what are the choices?

Basically, in Japan, your options are the following if you're a foreigner. You can:

-live with friends in some manner of apartment (risky - in such small spaces, squabbles erupt and you may not be friends for much longer. Plus, someone always moves out, usually to sunnier climes.)

-live alone (usually expensive because some manner of key money, sorry, "gift money" has to be paid alongside the rent and deposit, plus agency fees if you choose to do it that way. Also, it can be a little lonely unless you enjoy misanthropy/"your own company")

-live with a lover (call me cynical but DO NOT RECOMMEND, unless you're certain it won't end in tears, despair and broken crockery)

Oh yeah, there's one more. You can live in a guesthouse. I did once. It was quite shit, really. There were cockroaches and spiders and signs saying "please use the restroom BEFORE you shower", which begs the question, why bother with any manner of pretence? If you're catering for the calibre of person who defecates in the shower cubicles regularly, drop the fancy language. "DON'T SHIT IN THE SHOWER" would surely suffice. Perhaps a smiley face to keep the tone light.

But, thinking about it, unless you want to stay in Japan for many moons, I actually believe guesthouses are the best option. Consider this:

- they're usually cheaper than apartment sharing
- kitchens and bathrooms are communal and cleaned by management, so you won't have fights over who left the hair in the plughole or who didn't do the washing up
-you can always meet people. In fact, I met my first and (some of my closest) Japan friends in a guesthouse. It was quite sweet really, we bonded over the house's ridiculous idiosyncrasies, such as how there was no internet for the first 2 months, or how there was always a mysterious bag of hair in the shower room. But, at the very least, it is not a lonely place.
-if people get too much for you, you can lock the room door and escape from the outside world. It's difficult to do that in an apartment, where you hear every sparrowfart, throat-clearing and occasional suspicious grunt.

I've stated my case. In fact, it's a wicked decision. Watch this space.