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the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Tokyo, 2020.07.19

This weekend we looked at six apartments. They were all empty, which means they're not exactly among the first to get snapped up. We saw one that stank of mold and was five meters from a busy train line. Three had doorways or other things that were (much) too low for me. One had only one A/C unit in the entire place. Two were filthy.

And yet, it's interesting to see this side of the city. Almost every place I was ever in during my first five years in Tokyo was a concrete box without any character.

So we've renewed our place for another two weeks. Our landlord instead offered us a discount. And he said that if we wanted to renew again he'd give us a 30% discount. So it goes for "Air B&B" landlords during a pandemic. At that price it will be substantially cheaper than any of the apartments we've been looking at. Even what we're paying now the monthly price rivals the apartments. And we're only 17 minutes from my office. My gal sure can pick 'em.

rand()m quote

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.

—Bertrand Russell