Japan also has a cultural interest in space that the west does not. Case in point for me was seeing a major japanese house builders website - their top marketin

Japan also has a cultural interest in space that the west does not. Case in point for me was seeing a major japanese house builders website - their top marketing point was a ~1.3m/4.5ft high space in their home. With examples of someone using it as a (sit on floor) workdesk, a childrens play area, a library, storage space etc. This would not fly anywhere in the west. As noted its also typical to modify a family home over time - maybe one child moves out and another starts a hair salon in their old ground floor room (yes the planning rules allow this) Demolishing a home is also related to historic cultural use if timber where in the west the wealthy built out of brick and stone for the ages