Sachi and I visited Ikebukuro again before going out to dinner with friends. We looked around the Pororoca supermarket on the first floor of the new building, and found it satisfactory. It had a good supply of meat, poultry, fish, fruit, vegetables, and other assorted goods. No Diet Coke, though–I’ll have to ask them to order some. The prices seemed very reasonable, but then again a lot of the prices were marked down as part of their “opening ceremony” sale. We’ll have to go back in a week or two to see if the prices are still reasonable after the sale ends.

We also tested the walking distance between the building and the station. As measured from leaving the front door to the entrance to the station, it was within the ten to eleven minutes advertised; but if you measure it to the ticket gate, you have to add another minute or two. Not really all that bad, except that none of the route is covered; in rainy weather, it could be kind of a pain in the neck. But mostly for Sachi, who will depend on the train; for me, the scooter would be an acceptable alternative. Hell, it would take me slightly less time to go from the apartment to work on my scooter than it would take to go from my apartment to the station on foot. And it’ll be that much harder for her because where she lives now, she’s used to an eight-minute walk, most of that in a roofed shopping arcade. I’m thinking of giving Sachi a present of taxi tickets, to be used when the rain is bad. I know they exist, I used to use them for company classes, but I don’t know if a regular person can get them. I’ll have to call a taxi company and check.

Sachi and I also sat down and got most of the paperwork done–well, actually, Sachi did most of the paperwork while I sat there not understanding what most of the paperwork even was. Not only does she read and write Japanese way better than me–of course!–but she’s got business experience, and has dealt with this kind of paperwork a lot. A fringe benefit for me from the relationship.

And before I forget, Sachi finalized a deal she’s been working on for some time now: she has just signed on to work for a small company that has been absorbed by a larger cosmetics firm, and negotiated a nice salary from it as well. She starts in maybe three weeks or so. Let’s hope that this new place has a better working environment for her than the job she left before.

Four weeks before moving begins…