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  • In this video I'm gonna take you on a tour of my new Tokyo apartment

  • Since I did a video on my last Shibuya apartment

  • And I also did a video on moving to this new place

  • A lot of people been asking for a full tour of this new apartment

  • So here it is the old Shibuya apartment was about 35 square meters

  • while this new apartment is 70 square meters

  • Which works out to be about

  • 750 square feet

  • Which is kind of what Maiko and I were looking for

  • when looking for new place.

  • As many of you know

  • We're about to have a baby soon

  • So, finding a place that just had a little bit more room

  • for Michael, myself and the new baby

  • Just made a lot of sense to us

  • but if you watch my second channel Tokyo zebra

  • You know how much of a pain and all the issues

  • We've had trying to find this new place

  • But fortunately, we found it

  • and we finally moved in and luckily for us

  • We moved into this new apartment several weeks before

  • Japan declared a state of emergency

  • Which, has made the quarantine a little bit more bearable

  • So, before I start if you want to see what I'm doing on

  • The daily check out my Instagram account

  • and if you want to help support the channel

  • check out the Hold my Miso merch

  • and if you have any questions about Japan

  • Check out my discord community

  • that all said let me take you on a tour of this place.

  • Let's go

  • So, first of all

  • This is the entrance area

  • and as you can see it's a lot wider and more spacious

  • than my previous apartment

  • So, one of the things that I appreciate the most

  • is that in this place, it has a built-in storage for shoes

  • Finally, I get my own dedicated closet here

  • and then just next to it

  • Maiko has her own dedicated closet for shoes as well

  • and just below I keep some of my workout equipment

  • So, if I need to go and I'm on the run I can just quickly grab it and go

  • Also, another thing that I appreciate

  • is that the apartment has a lot of built-in wall hooks.

  • In fact, it's proven quite useful because I'm able to hang a hand sanitizer just right here at the entrance

  • and there you go!

  • My hands all sanitized now.

  • And another thing that I really love about this new place

  • Is that just in front of the entrance

  • there's a little space

  • where you can actually put a vase and hang something if you really want

  • Let me show you what I put in front of the entrance

  • because I'm kind of a little proud of it

  • And here it is YouTube's 1 million subscriber play button.

  • This is one of those Awards where it wouldn't have been possible without you guys

  • So thank you so much!

  • I appreciate all the support

  • and one thing that I wanted to share with you guys is..

  • Look just a little bit closer to the play button

  • it actually says presented to Paula from Tokyo

  • and Maiko

  • because they do this channel together

  • Again, thank you guys so much for the support over the years

  • I'm so excited for this year to come

  • and all of the new content

  • I'll be sharing with you

  • that said let me now show you the living room

  • Alright, so this is the main living, dining and kitchen area

  • In fact, we live in a 2 ldk

  • which, means in Japan

  • two bedrooms living, dining and the kitchen

  • So, I'll be showing you the other two bedrooms shortly

  • but let me just go through and kind of show you

  • what we did around this space.

  • One of the things that was really

  • important to Maiko and I

  • When kind of setting up this place

  • was to make sure

  • we didn't have a lot of clutter.

  • If you saw this Shibuya apartment tour

  • just a few weeks ago

  • You notice that we lived in a fairly cramped space

  • and because it was so cramped.

  • We just had so much clutter, which just

  • I really really hated

  • so, in this new space

  • I kinda wanted to try to keep it as simple as possible

  • One of the things you'll probably notice first

  • Is that the living dining kitchen is all connected into this one space.

  • We wanted to have this kind of Island kitchen behind me

  • So, that in the future when we're doing more vlogs on

  • our Tokyo Zebra channel

  • We'll be able to kind of show you more what's going on

  • in the kitchen, in the living room

  • without having to go to all these like separate rooms.

  • So, we have the main island kitchen there

  • We have a little dining set over there.

  • And then we just have this living room

  • this space right here

  • You can see that the zebra carpet

  • which, kind of goes to the Tokyo Zebra Motif.

  • This kind of separates the dining and the living room area,

  • but one thing about this living room area

  • We're actually still waiting for a sofa to be delivered

  • This pink chair behind me should just be going actually like right here

  • and then there we're supposed to have another sofa,

  • but we just couldn't get it in time.

  • It might just take another month or two to be delivered

  • So what can you do.

  • Now, let me show you this apartment from that side of the room

  • So, a lot of you already know that

  • Maiko and I work from home

  • So, we've actually set up this little area

  • for our work desk

  • So, one of the things that was quite important to us,

  • was to keep the work stations here in the main living area

  • so that when that baby comes we can also watch over

  • the baby while we're working

  • But, if you already haven't noticed

  • this room is kind of in a weird triangle shape

  • So, we kind of had to make adjustments

  • in order to make this room work.

  • First of all, I think this area was originally intended

  • to be kind of like

  • where you put your TVs and everything

  • and then maybe the couch would go here

  • and you'd face that way

  • but instead we actually decided to put the TV here

  • in front of the window

  • just to open up the space

  • a little bit more,

  • because we do have these work stations here

  • and because we did that

  • we had to kind of reposition the lights.

  • What you'll find I don't know this might be similar to your country

  • But, the light fixtures and apartments are fixed to one location

  • in order to get around that

  • I had to get this light fixture bar,

  • where I can move the light

  • one meter away and pretty much the same thing

  • for the dining room as well.

  • Oh, but let me show you

  • One thing, I didn't like about this room,

  • but was able to find a solution for

  • so just underneath the island kitchen

  • I actually wanted to put the air filter right here,

  • but the problem is they didn't have any electrical outlets

  • They only had it on the other side of the room

  • So, what I actually did to just like clean things up

  • because I really hate cables all over the place

  • It was I ran some molding

  • from that side of the wall

  • all the way to this side of the wall

  • and because the color of the baseboard changed

  • I also changed the color of the molding

  • and then determinated

  • I made this little box where I can put all the cables in,

  • so it's not so messy

  • I know pretty simple, but these little things just make me super happy

  • And another thing that I just really love about this space

  • is just how the windows wrap around this entire room,

  • so that when you pull back the curtains

  • you really feel like there's a lot more space

  • than It is right now,

  • because I know a lot of you

  • who live in Western countries

  • probably think that, this is a pretty small place

  • But it's Japan.

  • So what can you do

  • Overall, I think we did a decent job

  • on making this room work

  • I don't know.

  • What do you guys think,

  • but probably I shouldn't take any of this credit

  • because It was actually Maiko that designed

  • and like spaced everything out, picked out the furniture,

  • picked out the carpet.

  • Pretty much, I just had to agree to whatever she wanted

  • and I'm pretty happy that I did

  • Oh, but I did get to choose a TV.

  • The only thing is we agreed that

  • I wouldn't go any bigger than this one

  • So, this is the kitchen area

  • and as I said before

  • one of the things I love the most about this area

  • is that it's an open kitchen

  • It's just so nice to sit back here

  • and be able to see the rest of the room

  • see the views to the TV and also since we have a baby

  • on the way

  • It'll be cool to be able to like do stuff here in the kitchen,

  • while also being able to watch the baby

  • because what you'll find in a lot of Japanese apartments

  • Especially, like the one we had before

  • the kitchen is kind of in a separate room

  • It's difficult to see what's going on in the dining room

  • or the Living room

  • It just makes life easier for us.

  • Also, what I do like is a kitchen sink is bigger

  • Before, we have two burners on the stove.

  • Now, we have three burners

  • We have a little fish grill,

  • Which I didn't have before

  • and now we have an oven microwave system,

  • so we can actually bake stuff

  • Maiko's already made lasagna, cookies

  • and all that kind of stuff.

  • It just opens up all the stuff

  • that we can eat and you know

  • I love food

  • So, the thing is it's not actually the biggest oven

  • in the world but ovens are really hard to come by in

  • Apartments in Tokyo.

  • So, we're just super happy that we have it

  • I think a lot of people today

  • who want ovens will actually buy separate ones that they

  • set in their kitchen

  • They don't actually have ones that are built in

  • in fact

  • That's one of the things that Maiko and I were really

  • considering if we didn't have an oven

  • in the new apartment

  • We were probably just gonna get a stand alone one

  • and just hook it up and connect it somewhere

  • and then just beyond there

  • You keep all the dishes

  • and then we have some pots down below

  • One thing though that I didn't particularly like about this kitchen.

  • There's this kind of a shelf area just behind me

  • I wish they had just a little bit more depth,

  • so that we can actually put stuff on there

  • But since we can't

  • it's kind of limited.

  • We've actually had to buy this cart separately

  • that's just sitting right here,

  • so that we can put the rice cooker,

  • put the toaster oven and just a little bit more supplies

  • and then just behind me right here

  • We actually have our refrigerator

  • It's just a better location

  • especially compared to the last apartment.

  • In fact

  • You'd be pretty surprised how difficult it is to find

  • An apartment with an open kitchen like this in Tokyo.

  • And this is the bath area.

  • There's actually not a lot to see because everything

  • is hidden behind all the cabinets.

  • Basically, you just have some soap here

  • Yeah

  • Some of Maiko's little things,

  • which I really don't know what it is

  • And she has her glasses there.

  • And then just right here

  • We have our washer and dryer unit,

  • Basically It's all in one combo machine

  • So, you throw your clothes in it washes it

  • then automatically goes into a dry cycle

  • and then a few hours later

  • all of it is good to go

  • and then you can just fold it up

  • So, just next to the washer and dryer

  • you have this shower and bath unit.

  • It's actually an all-in-one enclosed space.

  • You have the shower right here to my left

  • and just weren't actually standing right now

  • You have the bathtub.

  • Like many bathtubs in a Japanese home

  • It does have the automatic features

  • but pretty much all you need to do

  • before you want to take a bath is hit

  • a few buttons on the panel and it'll fill the bath

  • to a desired level and temperature.

  • Personally, I'm not so much of a bath person

  • I like to take showers instead,

  • but Maiko has been using it quite frequently.

  • So, It really depends but it is useful.

  • So, I've converted this small bedroom

  • into a mini studio

  • It's actually something I wanted

  • since we started this YouTube channel,

  • but because our space was so small

  • in the previous apartment

  • I just could never do it.

  • But now that we do I finally was able to build

  • this little mini studio

  • Just like the rest of this apartment.

  • It's still not completely done

  • If you guys want to see kind of like the final final apartment?

  • then definitely just check out our Tokyo zebra channel,

  • because we'll be doing kind of like daily vlogs

  • with our son our family

  • and we'll Just be filming all around the house.

  • So, you'll be able to see how our apartment evolves

  • over time.

  • For now, this is pretty much it.

  • You can see just right behind me.

  • I have this kind of a filming studio

  • I have these two LED panels.

  • I have the camera

  • I have the microphone

  • all on a table and what's actually pretty cool

  • is that this table rolls

  • so I can take this whole set up and move it to the other room

  • and again

  • the thing that I wanted to do really was to like have

  • a camera set up all the time

  • so that whenever I wanted to film

  • whenever Maiko wanted a film

  • we can just like do it

  • we don't have to like set everything up

  • and like waste a lot time doing it.

  • Also, we have our sofa from our whole department

  • We have all the like the cabinet's from the old apartment

  • Everything is like pretty much from the old apartment

  • except for like these like lights

  • and then this new table that I got here

  • And the reason I got this table in particular

  • is that I actually wanted to be able to stand and work

  • sometimes and also if i needed to do something like

  • Do-it-yourself projects and wanted cut stuff or you know nail stuff down.

  • I wanted a table where I could do it

  • This is kind of like one of those heavy-duty tables

  • I'm also doing like a complete

  • separate video on how I set up this whole entire studio

  • from just like equipment I chose to how I built it all out

  • and that video will be on the Tokyo zebra channel

  • So subscribe to that channel,

  • if you want to see how this whole little filming studio got built out

  • Also just behind these cabinets

  • something I always really wanted to do

  • was kind of Casey nice that inspired me when I started

  • watching his blogs years and years ago was just I loved

  • How he had his filming studio

  • where he had like all of his tools in the background

  • and all of that stuff and our like easily it was for him to

  • Like take on projects because everything was just right there

  • I'm actually kind of like a clean freak

  • and I want to kind of hide everything but

  • I still want everything easy and accessible

  • That white closet over there

  • just have it has all the tools and all like the bits and bobs

  • that I need to like build stuff or make stuff all

  • The parts in there and then in this cabinet just behind me

  • I have like a charging station and I have all of the camera equipment and all of that stuff

  • So, setting things up like this makes it just a super efficient

  • Especially, for my workflow for Maiko's workflow

  • for the things we do for this channel

  • But who knows in the future

  • this may turn into our son's room

  • that may be a sad day because I spent so many hours

  • Building this out.

  • So many hours like thinking how I wanted to set this particular room up

  • This is like honestly like my personal space

  • Maiko got to design

  • Everything else in the house.

  • I got to kind of just like run with this room

  • And yeah, this is how it's come out so far

  • Anyway, let me show you the rest of the apartment

  • and this is the toilet room

  • It's actually a separate room from the bath area.

  • The toilet in itself has all of the automatic features

  • It has a wash function, It has a bidet

  • So it just makes it super easy

  • Again, and just to the left of the sink is this shelf

  • and then right under this shelf

  • It was just like this weird open space, but we did find something

  • It's little like cabinet thing to put just right there so we can put edition based

  • In fact, I'm kind of actually surprised how much space they use for this toilet area

  • That would have prefered they have the size of this toilet room and then use the other half for closet space

  • And finally, this is the main bedroom.

  • You can quickly see that it's fairly simple in here

  • in fact

  • We decided not to put too much money in this space

  • just because we probably won't be spending a lot of time in here

  • We have a standard bed drawers on the side

  • closet right next to it and then a full-length mirror

  • and that's like pretty much it in this room

  • and then just here to my left

  • We're planning on putting the baby crib

  • So here's all the stuff that we have for our baby some of it

  • We got our own and some of it we actually got from a lot of you

  • So again, thank you for that.

  • And just where Elmer was sitting is where we're gonna put the new baby crib

  • We should be getting that pretty soon.

  • So yeah, basically that's a full tour of my new apartment here in Tokyo

  • Let me know what you thought of the new setup

  • if you do things differently or if you had any advice.

  • Yeah Anyways, let me know all of that stuff in the comments

  • If you like this video help me out and hit that like button

  • if you want to see what I'm doing on the daily

  • Check out my Instagram account if you wanna help support the channel

  • Check out the hold my miso merch!

  • If you want to see more family style videos

  • Check out my Tokyo zebra Channel

  • and then if you want to see more guides about Tokyo or Japan

  • hit that subscribe button and the Bell button

  • and I'll catch you guys in the next one

In this video I'm gonna take you on a tour of my new Tokyo apartment

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