tsubame

Kitchen Table Quest

It started out as a plan that became a quest and promises to become a saga.

I wanted a kitchen table. I have been sitting at my computer desk eating meals at home since I moved in here in April. I never had a kitchen table at my old apartment the last time I stayed in Japan, but that was mainly because my kitchen was too small to accommodate a table. Now I have plenty of room and I wanted a cozy place for K and me to eat dinner together when she visits.

I had looked at tables before. There was a decent one in a second hand store for 10,000 yen ($100 around) I had seen a few months back. A couple of weeks ago K and I visited a furniture store and saw lots of nice stuff that was, however, rather pricey. And four weeks ago, we visited a home centre called D2 that had a wooden table with two chairs for 10,000 yen. I would have bought it at the time but we were a bit of a distance from my apartment and it wouldn’t be easy to carry on the train. I later heard from a student that there was a D2 not too far from my place. I decided to check it out and since there were a few things to shop for I decided to rent a car one day and drive round to get everything I needed.

So on Monday I got a car and K and I went first to D2 and found that the one near my place didn’t have the table. In fact, they didn’t have any kitchen tables. We left and stopped at a large store that sold household items on the second floor but found no kitchen tables there either. We did some grocery shopping and then went to a second hand store I knew about. On the way we had to turn around in a store parking lot and the exit was tight with a high kerb on either side. I tried to turn out into the near lane but a truck was quickly coming closer in the far lane, so I turned the wheel tighter – too tight! – and as we pulled out onto the road I heard a SCRAPE from the kerb side of the car. Shit. I just damaged the rental car. We stopped at the parking lot of the second hand shop and confirmed a nasty scrape in the paint and slightly depressed metal in the frame under the door on the left. That was going to cost me 20,000 yen deductible.

There was no kitchen table in the second hand shop. We went off to find a vacuum cleaner at an appliance and electronics mega-store and look at TVs. They had a vacuum that suited our needs and on sale for a reasonable price but they had none in stock. The TVs were too expensive. I knew of another store that had a cheaper one with a built-in video machine. We went there and got the TV and then brought it back to the apartment. Not knowing where else to go we set out for the distant store that had the wooden table and chairs for 10,000 yen.

On the way we found another appliance and electronics mega-store and got a similar vacuum cleaner for 2,000 yen less than the other one that wasn’t in stock. We were making progress but the afternoon was dragging on. I had thought we could have been finished with the shopping by now.

We visited another furniture store and found that they had an excellent selection of kitchen tables. K made a good observation when we found tables that didn’t have legs on each corner but two wide legs supporting the table at each side like an old fashioned school desk. There was room for two people to sit facing each other and one could get in and out of the seat without bashing knees against the table legs. Furthermore, the chairs swivelled, making it even easier to move. The price was not too expensive and so we decided to go with that table.

We went over to speak with the clerk. She told us there was no stock in their store for us to take home but they would instead deliver it. The catch was that they chose the delivery date – next Monday when I would be away – and they couldn’t guarantee a delivery time. Someone would come sometime during the day between 8:30 AM and 6:30 PM. K offered to stay at the apartment all day but that would be boring for her. I would be away in the mountains from Sunday to Tuesday. There would be no Internet, no cable, nothing to keep her occupied for a whole day if she had to wait that long. I didn’t want her to waste her day off. We asked if we could schedule another day but we couldn’t. They chose the delivery day. Could we just pick up the item ourselves? Yes, but again on the day they specified. That would mean renting another car, making the table even more expensive. We said we would think about it and left.

I was disappointed. I liked that table and the swivel chairs. We continued up the road to D2. It was now dark and raining. In D2 we were surprised to find the table was gone. They didn’t have any kitchen tables either. We bought a TV stand, a CD rack, and a curtain, just so that the trip wasn’t wasted. It was costing me enough with the rental car and not being able to get a table. We checked out one other store after but they didn’t have kitchen tables either. We gave up and went for dinner, having spent our day off together hunting for a kitchen table in vain.

I can’t believe it is this hard to get a kitchen table here. We have two other options. One is a huge store an hour and a half from here by car and another is IKEA, which is about two and a half hours from here by car. Otherwise I will have to buy a more expensive piece of furniture from the closest store. But they are much more expensive and might have delivery rules just as crazy as the other place.

The quest continues…

Follow up:
I wasn’t charged anything for the car. They said the damage was not visible so it didn’t matter. I got the impression they were just being nice to me.

Today, while the washing machine was draining, the hose came loose and water flooded my kitchen floor. All the boxes from the items I bought were still on the floor. As well, I have some cheap pressed wood shelves in the kitchen for a pantry and a cupboard. There was a big panic to get everything out of the kitchen as quickly as possible before water could soak in to much.

Posted by tsubame at October 4, 2006 03:31 AM | TrackBack