Episode 22 Where Did the Sink Go? Kitchen and Western-Style Room Completed!

The "Yodoe Project" started the day before Christmas Eve in 2018. A major cleanup was done during the second round in late January 2019, and demolition and renovation proceeded during the third (March), fourth (May), fifth (July), sixth (September), seventh (December), and eighth rounds (February 2020).

One month later, the 9th round was held from March 4th (Wednesday) to March 12th (Thursday), 2020. After the quick visit to Yodoe on the 8th (Sunday), Yoko rushed back to southern Hyogo Prefecture on the early morning of the 9th (Monday) and headed to Company K near the Nishinomiya Kita Interchange. After arriving at Company K around 9 o'clock and starting work, she received a phone call from Company O, a transportation company.

“I just arrived in the area, but I can’t find where I should deliver your Rinnai commercial gas stove. Where should I bring?”

“Where are you now exactly?”

“I am at Tsukamoto 6-chome area (Yoko's home address in Osaka)."

“What? Oh, no!”

In a panic, Yoko checked the order history. At the same time she ordered the commercial gas stove, she purchased a two-layer commercial sink and two worktables online. She realized she had made a huge mistake and set all the delivery addresses to her home address in Osaka. There must have been many times when she could have realized it by checking emails beforehand. However, she hadn't opened them up due to her hectic schedule. She also found that all the other items were shipped by Company T, a member of the Japan Post Group.

When she contacted Company T, she found out that, for some reason, the three products had been delivered, and they didn’t know where they were. Of course, they had not arrived at Yodoe yet.

What should I do?

Yoko was planning to go to Yodoe again tomorrow night, the 10th (Tuesday). However, not all the items would fit in her small car, so she needed to rent a larger car. No matter what, she was too busy to do so because of her work that day and day after. She contacted various places between the time she was working on urgent matters for Company K, but time passed without her finding the best solution.

After 2 PM, she received a message from Yoshikuni, her son, on her smartphone.

"I just returned safely to my house in Yokohama."

When Yoko and Yoshikuni reunited in September 2019 for the third memorial anniversary of the death of her father Shigeru, he announced to his mother that he would quit his job and travel the world as a poker player (see Yodoe Project Vol. 18). He quitted his job in November, and had been in Korea in December and January, Spain in February, and France in March. This time, he had returned to Japan for a friend's wedding.

What great timing! Yoko explained the situation to Yoshikuni and entrusted him with dealings with the delivery company T, while she concentrated on K's work.

Yoshikuni contacted Company T, found out that the sink and worktables were kept in their office. So he chartered a truck(36,000 yen), asked them to pick sink and worktables up at Company T's office on the morning of the 10th (Tuesday), and delivered them straight to Yodoe.

Thanks to him, the sink and two worktables arrived safely at Yodoe in the afternoon of the 10th (Tuesday)! A photo of Teru-chan (Teruko Yoshida) assembling it was sent to Yoko.

On the 10th (Tuesday), Yoko completed the work with Company E in Amagasaki (Hyogo Prefecture) and left the site after 6 PM. She picked up a Rinnai commercial gas stove from the office of delivery company O and headed straight for Yodoe. It was midnight by the time she arrived.

On the 11th (Thursday), Kumiko’s (Kumiko Sahara) acquaintance, Yuki Morioka, came from Kagawa Prefecture and made udon noodles from scratch, which they all ate for lunch.

Construction progressed, and many sections were completed by that night. A stylish countertop plastered by Mr. Yatsuda was set at the center of the kitchen, and a sink and worktables were also installed. Small windows, bay windows, and stylish ventilation fan covers were also added. Walls and floor were finished in the Western-style room to bring beds. The former closet was modified and equipped with a stylish sink and shelves. 

Finally, a piano was brought to the living room, and the work for the 11th (Thursday) was completed.

Yoko left Yodoe early in the morning on the 12th (Friday) to head to Company K near the Nishinomiya Kita Interchange again. Later, she received a phone call from Shokichi (Shota Nozaki), saying that the project members had finished last-minute work and cleanup and had moved to Hamamura by the evening.

On March 19th (Thursday), a commercial refrigerator was delivered Yodoe with Teru-chan in attendance. After receiving a phone call from her, Yoko was grateful and relieved that preparations to move to Yodoe were progressing steadily.

At the same time, the world situation had been changing rapidly due to unfamiliar disease. In January, the first COVID-19 infection was confirmed in Japan. In February, a mass infection occurred on a cruise ship. The number of infected people increased day by day. On March 12^th, a day Yoko left Yodoe, the WHO declared the pandemic, and the bill to revise the Special Measures Law was passed in Parliament on the 13th and enacted the following day on the 14th. As the government was getting ready to declare a state of emergency based on the Special Measures Law, Yoko made a big decision on March 19th.