Okay, I promised yard photos, so here they are.

[Matsubara]

I just finished a huge makeover of our tiny yard here, despite the size it was a big project. I sifted all the topsoil to get out all the rocks, glass & nails (!), put in stepping stones and a kind of stone deck, with moss between the stones, planted some geraniums, gazanias, iceplant and a little cherry tree, and used english ivy as groundcover. I just finished it today, and am looking forward to seeing it in a few months, then years time. You can also see our little old microvan in the background. Sorry for the resolution, as they are cell phone photos.






To the person who recently told me hanging laundry out to dry was an "eyesore" - enjoy the view, bub, hideous, horrible LAUNDRY!

:evilgrin:

[SeattleGirl]

1. Very nice!

Looks like a very restful, peaceful place to hang out (even with the laundry).

[Courtesy Flush]

2. Eyespre guy better not go to Europe.

People hung their wash out everywhere. Electricity is very expensive there. We were in Italy. May not be true in other places.

Looks like a cozy yard.

[Matsubara]

3. Dryers are not practical in Japan either.

Aside from the electric bill, they take up precious space, which is at a premium here. Luckily, Fukuoka is not so big a city, so we have a yard and a decent amount of living space. Pretty much only the rich and people whose homes were passed down to them have places like this in Tokyo.

[wildhorses]

4. thanks for the pix. i can't wait to see it in a few weeks!!!

:bounce:

oh yeah...i hang my laundry, too;)


:hi:

[Matsubara]

5. Kicking my garden thread...

What can I say, I worked hard on it!

:)

[InvisibleTouch]

6. Hideous laundry!!

Heh ... I hang mine out to dry too. Anyone who thinks it's an "eyesore," well, that's their problem. No one forces them to look into my yard. :)

Good for you, for doing something positive for the Earth!

[Gormy Cuss]

7. I was going to comment on your eyesore.

Nice rack.

Can't wait to see how the yard looks in a few months. The gazanias and geraniums will be great for color once they start blooming.

[commander bunnypants]

8. What pray tell is an iceplant

got a pic

CB

[Matsubara]

9. Succulent of s. African Origin

It's a very popular groundcover along the California freeways.



They do okay in my area of Japan, too.

[commander bunnypants]

10. Anywhere near Kyoto

An expat friend of mine lives there

CB

[Matsubara]

11. Sorry, SW Japan, Kyushu Island.

Thank god, Kyoto is hot as hell.

[commander bunnypants]

12. o well

He also just got married 6 months ago.


CB

[MistressOverdone]

13. Nice work!

It will be lovely. What is your weather like there right now?

[Matsubara]

14. Not too bad for this time of year.

Normally, we should be entering the rainy season which means 80 degrees and high humidity, with rain almost every day, but the rain conveyer belt has not moved this far north yet, so we are enjoying sunshine and temps in the mid to upper 80s, and even the humidity is not so bad (for here).


We used to live in a more inland, more urban area, and it was significantly hotter, with little cooling at night. Now we live close to the beach, abutting a good-sized pine forest, so the ocean breezes through the pines have a nice cooling effect. (the water is not cold like in California, so the effect is not as pronounced, but it's at least several degrees cooler, especially noticeable at night, since there is a lot less asphalt and concrete giving off residual heat.

One of the sad things about Japan is that there are too few shade trees in the cities. Even though it is a wet country with very good soil, they tend to plant very small ornamental trees, or prune the bigger trees annually so that they provide little shade. I think it's partly a cultural preference - my MIL remarked on how "wild" and "overgrown" all the trees in California and Florida were. Also, there are typhoons here, so flying branches could be a problem. But there were much more severe hurricanes in Florida, and the pruning wasn't so severe there.

Here's one of the tree-lined streets near Miami. I think these are banyans.

[MistressOverdone]

21. I have a century (or more) life oak in my yard

and the shade is great.

I guess Japan has a lot of Japanese maples?? LOL

[Matsubara]

24. Live Oaks are great - slow growers, though.

I believe that in olden times, the mountains here were full of maples and other broadleaf deciduous trees. Unfortunately, most of the mountains were heavily deforested long ago and replanted mostly with Japanese cedar. They are a nice tree (except for the pollen in March) but the loss of diversity is regrettable. The maples are still popular in home gardens, as are gingko, pine, sycamore, cherries, plums, acacia, you name it. The climate for most of Japan is similar to the US East coast from about Washington DC to about Georgia, so trees that are commonly planted there are also common here. In fact, a great many popular garden plants in the US are native to Japan and/or China. Think of all the plants that end in "japonica" or "chinensis".

Can you imagine a world without azaleas, rhododendrons, wisteria, chrysanthemums, podocarpus, etc?

If you have an old live oak, I guess you must live in the South?

[MistressOverdone]

28. Northern Florida

Live oaks everywhere. Huge things, great climbing trees. They shed in the spring but are green all year.

On another subject, my students are absolutely fascinated with all things Japanese because of Anime. They love Japanese music, go to Japanese expos. There is an entire subculture in the schools that identify themselves this way. If you go to MySpace you see evidence of it everywhere.

My kids are all into a group (guy? girl? dunno, really) named Gackt?

[hibbing]

15. Matsubara rocks

Matsubara,
Looks cool. I find myself fascinated by your posts about life in Japan. The one the other night that drifted to bathwater being used for the first cycle of laundry I found very interesting and fun. The conventions different cultures have are always intriguing.

Is there any concern about Japanese baseball players coming to the states to play?

Please keep posting about life there, interesting, educational, and fun!

Thanks, and peace

[Ptah]

16. I'm envious.

My yard is about one quarter of yours.

You did a fine remake!

:thumbsup:

[Matsubara]

19. Wow. Do you live in the states?

My yard would be tiny by US standards. Not so bad for here.

[Joe Fields]

17. Love the hedge. They make good fences.

[Matsubara]

18. Yeah, the hedge was put in by the complex owners.

I like a hedge because it's green and lets through air. But this one is holly, with the super-sharp leaves. When I am working underneath, the spines on the leaves sometimes get me! OUCH!

SInce the photos were taken, I put in some more gazanias and some verbenas, with a little thyme.

My only gripe about the yard is the mosquitoes, which come from the nearby forest every evening.

[greenbriar]

22. so...are you in Japan for work?

are you from the states?

[Matsubara]

23. Kind of. I work here, but I telecommute, so I can live wherever.

We moved back here after 5 years in the states because of may wife's aging, ailing father being all alone and needing someone to help him out. The cost of living was also a factor as it is much much much cheaper to live here than it was in San Francisco. A townhouse like this in SF would be at least $1500~2000 per month.

But yeah, I'm a native of Texas, transplanted to California, moved to Japan the first time in 1995.

[laylah]

20. re: repelling mosquitoes

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/521614/
You did a terrific job with your little space!

[stuntcat]

25. regarding laundry x(

I've been thinking of putting up a line for drying, whether or not the neighbors want to see my things I'd feel better saving some power.
So at my husband's company's picnic today, one of the workers wasn't there because we had a lightening storm last night and it struck his dryer's exhaust tube (or something, whatever) and caught their house on fire! They didn't do anything wrong, they just got struck and it caused a housefire. Luckily they were home and able to get help in time and save thier stuff. But what if it happened here, while we were off visiting somewhere, and our cats die just from a lightinging strike????
I's so freaked about this now x( I'm gonna put up a clothesline.

[Matsubara]

26. Interesting anecdote.

But a properly grounded dryer shouldn't start a fire.

I am not against dryers - I love the feel of warm soft clothes just out of the dryer. And a dryer would be a godsend here during the rainy season.

However, space is at a premium in our place, and electricity ain't cheap, so we just hang them up on a special rack inside when it's rainy (if you put them in a room with a ceiling fan on full blast above them, they are dry in about 6 hours)

Ours is like this, but metal:



This one looks like it would be good too.

[stuntcat]

27. ooo I've seen both of those in shops before

Now's a good time to start hanging things out but I'm gonna look for things like those for winter.

I'll talk to my husbad about the dryer being grounded.. I'm worried now about a freak accident burning up our cats, I think I have strange luck so I don't want to take chances.