Time marches on. Our move to our new apartment becomes imminent, as does the birth of our son. “Genki,” our boy’s in utero name, is more and more active each day. Each night before The Wife goes to sleep (and I begin work), I give him a talking to through her expanding belly. He most often responds by squirming and poking at us. As familiar as I am with the whole process of baby-making, these reminders that there is a living, breathing little animal inside my wife’s body never fail to amaze and confuse me (and even freak me out a little). Nonetheless it is also quite a rush to know that he is preparing himself to pop out (yes, yes, I know it’s not that easy) and meet us.

We had several names picked out for the baby if it was a girl, which meant, of course, that we would be having a boy. We’d like a name that works well in Japanese and in English, but do not want to choose from the usual pool that satisfies both requirements (think “Ken”). It doesn’t necessarily need to be an actual English (or Japanese) name, just understandable and easy enough to pronounce and assign gender to for both cultures. Early forerunners were “Kio” (sounded like a girl), “Luka” (I got tired of it; sounded a little trendy) and “Noah” (also too trendy). “Kai” has been topping the list lately. I find “Kai” rolls off the tongue a little better, but I’m not entirely convinced that I love it. I still have trouble seeing myself having a little boy, let alone one with a name. Time will tell. I think we will wait until he is born and then see if one name suits him better than the other.

Reading up about Li’l Abner’s the Schmoo at Wikipedia, I can across this series of the Skeletal Systems of 22 past and present cartoon characters. Very funny and disturbing.

[Update 9.1] And the Koreans take it one step further! (via Veer.)

A lot has progressed over just a few days. First, I became a legal foreigner. This was much easier for me in Japan than it would have been for The Wife in the States. I like to chalk this up to the Japanese mastery of bureaucracy, though it probably has more to do with Japan’s population crisis. I’m glad I can do my part by creating a little future worker.

Monday we went to Nishinomiya to find a place. Neither of us had ever been there, but for some reason we had decided that this is where we would live. It was pretty nice, and benefits from a small town feeling while being nestled between two pretty large cities (Kobe and Osaka) and bordered by mountains and bay. It’s best feature is the Shukugawa, a small river that runs through the middle of town and is lined with a charming park and cherry trees, which is certain to be a treat next spring. We saw four apartments. They were all a bit more run-down than I had hoped, but we were looking for a big place (by Japanese standards) for a low price (two-thirds of what we paid in New York and half of what we paid in Washington!). The last place we saw had just been vacated by the owner of the building and benefitted from his personalization, complete with jacuzzi, a surprisingly tasteful chunky stained glass in the entry, real wood flooring (as opposed to the usual plastic woodlike Japanese flooring), air conditioning in almost every room, and a stove (you normally need to purchase your own). Unfortunately it also had some bachelor-pad type renovations, like a mirrored bar area, big brass handles on every door, and a ceramic dolphin statue on one balcony. After a little deliberation regarding how we would hide these features, we decided to take this place.

Now we are in the interesting process of signing a lease. First the owner had to approve us, which I had heard horror stories about, especially regarding discrimination towards foreigners. Surprisingly, we heard we were approved during our train ride home. Now The Wife is translating my tax returns to try to prove my income. I don’t even know what half the lines mean on my return, so this is no easy task. And then there is the matter of transferring the GI-normous security deposit (actually, it is an assortment of fees, little of which we will ever see again). With any luck this will all be sorted out by the beginning of next week and we will have a home by the end of the month.

Then we need to buy a car. Stay tuned!