Buying a house in Japan Part 4 - The Layout and the Tatami-room

Ok, I do admit that I'm not keeping this series as regularly updated as maybe I should, but I can't really be bothered with doing a recap every time I update so if you're wondering where we are in this exciting sequence of events click the "buying a house in Japan" label and read up.

Me and Mrs. Sunshine-Salaryman were basically in agreement in what type of floor plan and space we wanted for our new little house; basically a large living room with kitchen, three bedrooms and one guestroom downstairs. The only place where we ran into some discussion were as to whether it was necessary that the downstairs guestroom would be a Japanese style room with tatami room or a regular western style room. Since I felt no particular need for a room to drink green tea in, sitting in a kimono contemplating my next move in the game of Go, I initially put up some minor resistance against the idea of a tatami room. The rationale for my resistance was based on the minimalistic approach of Japanese rooms and the difficulties in setting up matching bookshelves, drawers and other furniture.

My resistance proved quite futile, not due to overwhelming opposition, but mainly due to the fact that it proved quite impossible to find a house with the layout we wanted without a Japanese room and that we had already abandoned the idea of having a house built according to our specs...

In the end, I'm quite ok with the Tatami-room, we have no lack of storage space and it actually does smell pretty nice and also serves as a easy-access non-cluttered storage facility for Baby Sunshine.

Coming up next: The Sales Reps...