There must be a ghost…
Conversation with Shun while looking at small houses and apartments back in Chiba…
Me: Shun, what about this house, it looks nice, and new.
Shun: Yeah, it is nice. But cheap, so there must be a ghost.
Me: Don`t be silly, just because it is nice but cheap doesn`t mean that someone died there or there was a ghost there.
Shun: In Japan it does. We can ask though if there is a ghost…maybe they will tell us.
Me: Whatever, I doubt there is a ghost.
Shun is very superstitious. I didn`t really know this about him until we lived together…When he came back from his grandmothers funeral he yelled at me from the door “Laura-chan, bring the salt” me not knowing what the hell he was talking about so I took him the salt/pepper mix which was the only thing we had in the house. He looked at it and then piled some of it at the doors of our apartment. He is also very big on going to get special charms from the shrine before we travel or if someone gets sick or if either of us has a test coming up.
He also believes in ghosts. It is not that I am a non-believer. I figure we can all just live happily together and not worry about it…Shun however thinks living in a place with a ghost would be the worst thing in the world. He says he saw his grandfathers ghost when he was younger (so did his Dad) and I think it has him a little freaked…I know he thinks his parents house is haunted because that is where his “Jiji” died…
We are back looking at places to live even though we will live with his parents for a couple of months to get some extra money together. Some of the places we have been looking at today are little town houses or older style Japanese houses. I would love to live in a house, even if it was small because the idea of been able to hang our washing outside and having a tiny garden really appeals to me. I thought it would be too expensive but we have managed to find quite a few in Ichikawa and Motoyawata that are 70m2 or bigger, a lot of which have car spaces attached at no extra cost and a couple of them are even within 10 minutes of the station!!! Our price range is not huge but it is large compared to some I guess because I know we will not get a place under 10 man. So our budget is 13man (because Shun`s company pays 3man or our rent no matter where we live) however a couple of the places we have seen are about 10man which would be perfect!
Of course it will only work if Shun believes the places we go to see are not haunted…
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Hey Lulu
Masa is slightly suspicious but it only appears very occasionally. We have a couple of guinea pigs and when one died he put 2 little mounds of salt on either side of the door. Didn’t know this was for pets too! He also told me never to buy a second hand doll (wasn’t planning to) because it might have a ghost … weird … but ok I can live with that ::)
That’s hilariously cute =)
That might make finding a place a little harder though, eh? Hopefully you guys find something nice and cheap! I really want to move into a “house” too. Ideally with a garden patio/balcony that will fit a table and chairs to drink coffee at.
Hehehe I also think it’s cute! It also speaks volumes about the kind of person he is. It demonstrates that he has values and believes in sipirituality you know? Like he has respect for things? I really hope you can find somewhere to live that is big enough for you to feel comfortable, hopefully if not this time then at least in a few years once you have kids so they have space to run around!
Hmmm well we better blindfold Shun if you guys ever come here- deceased estate and we never had the ceremony to rid the house of the spirit- K doesn’t care and I thought it was weirder asking a monk from a temple I’ve never been to to come and help the new foreign girl than to live in a deceased estate.
Some of my neighbours are very superstitious though and it’s interesting to talk to them. Does Shun tie a pouch of warm salt around his neck when he has a sore throat? I hear sore throats can be caused by bad spirits…
Good luck house hunting- so much fin and so much stress al at the same time!
Hey!
Just catching up on your blog. You can buy couscous in Kaldi in Kichijoji and probably a few other places.
Hope you’re not stressing too much!
Jo
xxx
Poor guy – if he saw I ghost no wonder they would freak him out.
BUT if its the house you showed me last night – I say GO GO GO! That was a SWEET house!!
Just get someone to you know “bless” the place before you move in – that way Shun can have peace of mind and YOU can have your new, clean, spacious, house ;P
Good luck with your haunted house hunting;) Hope you do manage to get a house….having a bit of privacy plus garden makes all the difference.
Interesting! Takeshi’s not superstitious at all – I guess that’s because he spent enough time in the States. Maybe if he had stayed in Japan for the whole time, there would be more a chance of him being superstitious. Or maybe that’s just the way some people are, regardless of what culture they are exposed to!
I like buying the charms from temples in Nara, sometimes. But I only usually buy them because they’re so pretty.
Haha.
Also, on another note (sorry for taking up space!):
It’s ironic that you guys are looking to come back very soon, while we two are waiting for a visa that will let us go back to the States fairly soon, as well!
I’d love to meet you guys in person…Not to creep you out or anything. I haven’t had the chance to make any friends here in Japan, for myself, on my own. All the people I ever meet are friends and coworkers of Takeshi’s. And they don’t speak much English at all anyway, and my Japanese is still embarrassingly basic.
But besides that, Suzuka is not the ideal place to meet other foreigners (from English-speaking countries, anyway). I’m jealous that you have met other bloggers here in Japan in person, and have become friends and such!
My husband is not superstitious either, and neither am I, we are both spiritual though, me more than him. So how long will you be stuck with the in-laws? 80000yen and up should be the starting range if you want something DECENT, but that is not bad, I remember looking a long time ago anything under that amount was “SCARY”.
You should be able to find something decent in that price range, it guess it depends if you are looking for parking, what kind of amenities, security, etc.
So are you thinking of interiors yet, do you have any “color” you want to decorate your flat in.
Congratulations Lulu!! how was it? Bet you looked beautiful and I had my fingers crossed for good weather and all the guests arriving OK. Ironic that Japan and Australia both got their first cases of the flu on ‘the’ day – hopefully not effecting people getting to you at least!!
Can’t wait to see pics.