Visiting the biggies
Yesterday Naoko and I with Kaika in tow went to a 住宅展示場 (juutaku tenjijou, or model home showroom), although these aren’t showrooms per se but more like big parking lots with model homes arrayed like some quasi neighborhood). Really you’ve been to one you’ve been to all, as far as these go, and now I’ve been to 4 or 5. This one was in Kawaguchi. All the biggies were there as they always are, I mean what independent can afford to put up a model house and staff it with salesmen (well, I suppose a few do, but still….)
But at some point we’ll need to have a few quotes and plans from these big companies, so that we have something to work from when we start to fish around more independent waters. And as far as I know these companies will do that for free, provided you sit around long enough to hear their spiel, and endure the later follow-up phone calls you’re bound to receive. And of course they can give you ideas about features or design quirks that might be nice to incorporate even if it’s another builder who carries them out. We looked at two homes from companies I hadn’t even heard of, Kinoshita and Fujishima, and one company I recognized but wasn’t really familiar with, Polus.
Of the three, Polus was definitely the most impressive, primarily because they were showing a 和風住宅 (wafuu juutaku, or Japanese-style house) and the salesman was earnest and pleasant (well, they all are, aren’t they?). They were showing one of their “Po Hous” line called “Wabian”. It certainly had the most craftsmen-like feel of any of the houses, and if someone forced us to have that house well we could do a lot worse, that’s for sure. One thing I really liked was the basement-like storage compartment underneath the floor of the 和室 (washitsu, or Japanese-style room, eg. usually floored with tatami mats and with an alcove), which was operated by a button on the side wall. Basially one of the tatami mats could be raised up to reveal a storage area underneath, about the same size as the washitsu itself and about 5 feet in depth. Not exactly the basement we’ve been contemplating, but a start 
Another appealing thing was the way the dining room was sort of in a nook, with a tatami mat-upholstered bench forming the seating on the far side of the dining table. The table was at an angle which seemed interesting as well – unfortunately another salesperson was using the table for his customer pitch so I couldn’t sit at the table myself and guage whether that would be awkward.
Another interesting storage touch was the employment of a “Lazy Susan” for storage under a raised platform that supported the beds in the master bedroom. Not sure how practical in everyday use but certainly an idea to consider. (In case you don’t know, this gives you an idea of the real “lazy Susan”.)
The salesman admitted that 3-story wafuu houses are not very common, although he did say that the company was currently building a 3-story one in Omiya that he invited us to check out. He quoted a very rough 3 to 3.5 million yen cost to build one with his company.
Pictures from the day are here.