Shopping in the suburbs

Every single one of our neighbors owns at least one car, and for good reason. If you were to look at a Google map of everything within walking distance of our home (for privacy reasons I won't be posting that here, so let me give you a visual) you would see lots of undeveloped areas, one supermarket, two convenience stores, a hospital, a recycling center, a cultural center, a train station, and an assortment of small office buildings, dentists, hair salons, etc.

What's missing from this list is a home furnishings store, a garden center, or stores that sell the specialty items our son needs for school. Those places exist, but we really are in the American equivalent of the suburbs here and all of those specialty stores, while just a quick car-ride away for all of our neighbors, are simply beyond our reach on foot. 

Our neighbors tell us that nobody around here takes the bus. Most of them aren't even sure where the nearest stops are. As far as I can tell there is no website for the town bus. I have no idea how anybody knows what the schedule is or where they travel to. 

There is a taxi service that sounds amazing because you can go anywhere in town for 300 yen (about $3), but it requires registration by telephone and they don't speak English (and my Japanese is still laughably limited). 

We were at the middle of the train when
I took this one. Seems to go on forever!

The train, a 15 minute walk away if you have two kids walking with you, is an option but again we are limited to stores within walking distance of whatever destination we choose.

There are a few people at my husband's work who are going to get rid of their bicycles and want to give them to us. We're very enthusiastic about that idea and will probably find many more things opening up to us when we have some kind of transportation. Until then, we will order the essentials online, do without, or make our own.