Our little corner castle in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. This was taken from across the canal in the late Spring.

When I worked at my first job as an English teacher, the language school secured an apartment which I shared it with two other teachers--both old friends. This three bedroom "manshon" apartment in an upscale Tokyo neighborhood became known as the House of Three Gaijin, mainly because three gaijin women lived in it.

As with most "manshon," this one had a cute name: "Karumu Futako Tamagawa" (Calm Twin Tama Rivers). Unlike most apartments, this one sat in wide open spaces--a great selling point for us. We sat by a farm, a canal and a junior high school, and we got used to being assaulted with calls of "Harro! Harro!" from the school on our way to the bus stop.

For two of us, it was our first Japanese home. For me, it was my first home away from family. In classic expat tradition, we raided the garbage piles on sodai gomi ("big garbage") day and took in castoffs from friends. It's a well-known fact that you could find some cool things in the garbage during Japan's bubble economy--people threw everything away, from working televisions to heaters to computers. We scored two sets of bookshelves, a small TV, a kerosene heater, a dinette set with four chairs, an electric dish dryer, an old-style washing machine, a full set of dishes and a bicycle.

This was my room (yes, I liked anime). It was four and a half jo in size, which translates to about 8' x 6'. I had to fold my futon up in order to walk in there. The room held one bookshelf, one small table I used as a desk, and the futon. The tiny closet held the contents of two suitcases--everything I'd brought with me to Japan. On a clear day, you could see Mt. Fuji from my bedroom window.

In Japanese real estate terms, the apartment was called a 3LDK: Living, Dining, Kitchen and 3 bedrooms. To three Americans used to elbow room, the place was tiny, with rooms the size of closets and closets the size of cupboards. Two of the bedrooms were small enough that an average adult could stretch out both arms and touch a wall without straining. The largest bedroom had tatami floors and dimensions of 8' x 10'. We had a decent-sized living/dining room, but for some strange reason, people tended to congregate in my room for meetings.

Our apartment had one unusual luxury: a parking lot for tenants, with spaces available for a "little extra" rent. Since we didn't have a car, this didn't affect us much, save for the time I rented a car for two days over the New Year's Break. Our next door neighbors offered us their parking space while they were away visiting family, but I mistakenly parked in the wrong spot. I came out the following morning to find some jerk from our building pasting big signs on the car windows claiming that we owed him five hundred yen in parking fees. Never mind that the lot was practically empty and it was an honest mistake--we had defiled his space. Both roommates roped me in before I told him what he could do with his signs and his five hundred yen.

For the most part, our year at the House of Three Gaijin worked out pretty well. The only problem was in winter, when it rained and rained and rained. Inside the house, the dampness and humidity built up, and was made worse by the idiot neighbor from the Great Parking Conflict who complained that our bathroom ventilation fan was too loud even when we weren't using it. As a result, you could often see water running down the walls, and one morning, one of my roommates turned over in her bed and accidentally put her foot through the soggy sheet rock.

Karumu Futako-Tamagawa ("The House of Three Gaijin"), Tokyo

Size: Three bedrooms, one bath.

Rent: 50,000 yen per month per occupant; 150,000 yen per month total. 900,000 yen nonrefundable "key money" deposit. Utilities charged separately.

Pros: Close to the office, nice facilities, trendy neighborhood and plenty of open space around the building. Nice views from the windows. Gas range and an oven that we actually managed to stuff a Thanksgiving turkey into. Full-size Japanese bathroom. Air conditioning in summer.

Cons: Close to the office, but not close to work (we were travelling teachers). Not close to anything else. Downstairs neighbors were jerks. Constant harrassment by junior high school kids. Some ventilation problems: walls and floors became sodden in winter.