Plum Blossoms Emerging 2006-02-25

This morning we woke up to blue sky and warmer weather. Unfortunately, we spent most of the day inside the car. I took the photo above (of my neighbor's plum blossoms) just before we headed out.

Actually, we drove to Hachioji to look at some houses and drive around the area some more. It's supposed to rain ALL next week, so it seemed like a good idea to go. We started off visiting a home near Kitano Station. The place was an incredible deal (a fairly new and spacious 3LDK within walking distance of the station for just 80,000 yen per month). On the downside, we just couldn't see living there with our kids. Like much of Tokyo, outside the door is lots of concrete and traffic with no parks nearby (and no sidewalks either). We really want to raise our kids closer to nature (at least close to a park) in a place with where you can enjoy taking a walk together without fearing for your lives.

After that we drove to Nishi Hachioji to see a big park there. We've been looking at the place on a map, but we'd never actually seen it. The park was okay -- not great, but we'd be grateful to live near it. Nishi Hachioji would also put us close to the mountains and Hachioji Station (both good things).

An older lady we met at the park suggested we go see Minamino. That's a "new town" that's still being developed not so far from Hachioji Station (but over on the Yokohama Line). We ate at Denny's and then took her advice. We arrived in Minamino after dark, drove around the wide streets, looked at the huge houses and fancy restaurants, and finally headed for home. It felt like we had taken a brief trip to Pasadena or Singapore.

It's too late to keep typing. Sorry, I'm not even making this an interesting story. Suffice it to say, we have more information now than we had this morning. It was a good day, but I'm tired and ready to sleep.

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