My Host Family's Home

I think that when I imagined a Japanese home I saw some minimalistic, obsessively clean house. My host mother's house is not like that at all. It is rather reminiscent of any older couple's house, who has had sixty some odd years to accumulate stuff. The house is quite large for a Japanese house. It is a house that has been lived in by multiple generations, and so is an older traditional house.

 This is my bike in front of the house. The Laundry is done almost daily, and hung out to dry in front of the house. My host family has a dog. Sado looks very cute, but he isn't very friendly and he is prone to snap. He is also hard of hearing, so until he sees someone he doesn't start to bark, but He really likes to bark.

Okasan likes to garden in the yard. Most of the gardening is done in containers.

When you first enter the house you come into the genkan.

Okasan does ikebana, and there are always flower arrangements in the genkan.
Behind the genkan is the kitchen where we also eat.

This is normal, but somewhat messy. Food is frequently left out overnight on the dining table, even meat. This is very typical for Japanese people. I usually get four of five small plates of food for dinner.
To the right of the genkan is the living room. This is messier than usual.

She cleaned the table later that day.
To the left of the genkan is a room that used to be a sleeping room, I think, before they built bedrooms on.

It is mostly used for storage now, I think. There is a room to the right if this that is definitely storage. The door to it is almost never open. Through this room is the bedrooms.

The toilet is at the end of the hall. My room is next to the toilet. There is really nothing but the toilet and a hand washing sink in that room.
The bath is off of the kitchen.

there is a large sink and mirror in one room, and next to it is the bath. The bath has an approximately 2 ft deep  tub, and a shower head on a hose. You never get right into the bath, because everyone uses the same water. First you have to wash yourself off. You sit on the little stool, and wash yourself, and make sure you rinse very well, then you can soak in the Ofuro if you like.

My room is next to the toilet. My room is somewhat messy too.
And that is my house.