Get out of the tower!!

When we came on island fall of 2010, they were increasing the on-base housing population in order to validate the refurbishments needed to the housing. Therefore, we had no choice but to live on base in a tower (See "Our Tower Home" post, Dec. 2010). Then, a year later, the tower into which they made us move was coming onto the refurbishment schedule. So, we have to move. BUT, now they do NOT have base housing for us, so we have to live out in town!! And so, the house hunting fun begins :o)
Some of you may have followed our experiences on facebook, but I've put together what I feel are the most interesting aspects of the Okinawa housing we visited.

PROSPECT #1

The front porch of the 3rd floor apartment

Entryway with it's own elevator!
It was a private elevator for this top-floor unit. It required a key to unlock the outside door and a key to open/operate the elevator itself.

But, as you can see, it was NOT large by any means!! It would have been perfect to have bags of groceries ride up while we walked up the stairs :)

The kitchen/living room space... laundry/guest bath and master bedroom in the right hand corner.

Rodney saw this shower unit and was ready to say, "We'll take it!!"
It has a shower head in the ceiling and body sprayers down the back. The bottom is a Jacuzzi tub! It also has "mood" lighting inside and a built-in radio!!!
A friend of mine says it reminds her of Willy Wonka's glass elevator ;o)

The building has an ocean view from the shared rooftop patio.

PROSPECT #2

Most Japanese homes have a toilet room right inside the front door....and many come equipped with a urinal!!

I loved these sliding book cases! The front two slide to reveal three book cases behind.

Both bedrooms had a wall of storage closets and cupboards. The closets were two hanging rods deep!!

A Japanese washing machine

Kitchen -- all Japanese appliances

PROSPECT #3

This was our favorite at this point. Step out the door, look down the street and you're about a block from the sea wall and beach!!

Kitchen -- American appliances except for clothes dryer
(This place had just been vacated and workers were there this day cleaning and fixing things, hence no door on the oven ;)

This finished attic accessed by a pull-down ladder would have been some awesome storage!!

Stairwell between ground and 2nd floors

This under house storage would have been a decent place to put the bikes!

PROSPECT #4

We would have had two covered parking spots.

This 8th floor apartment had a balcony off the kitchen which would have been a great spot for the grill.

The master "shower room" was a bit interesting....

But, the ocean view from the front balcony was amazing!!!

So, after the looking, we were on the verge of choosing Prospect #3, when we were shown Prospect #5 which was decidedly our favorite and came to be our "ocean front property in Okinawa"...... ;o) ........