"What you describe Tokyo as, 4-5 story buildings, IS tall by local Bay Area standards." Entirely depends on the neighborhood. In Palo Alto, yes, they're going

"What you describe Tokyo as, 4-5 story buildings, IS tall by local Bay Area standards." Entirely depends on the neighborhood. In Palo Alto, yes, they're going to be horrified by 5-story construction. In Oakland, not so much. The "delusional" part of said comment was the characterization of Tokyo as a place where all of the buildings are tall. In fact, take a train a couple of stops outside the Yamanote line, and you'll likely find yourself standing in the middle of a community of detached, 1-2 story homes that would evoke large parts of the bay area. Tokyo is not especially dense, or tall. Tokyo simply sprawls, and most people on HN have never been outside of Shinjuku enough to know the difference. Don't believe me? I dropped a pin at random in an area of Tokyo about 10 minutes west of Shinjuku by train: https://goo.gl/maps/6vXn2KqUK4P2 https://goo.gl/maps/6vXn2KqUK4P2 I'm not cherry picking. This is what Tokyo actually looks like, when you get out of the business/tourist districts. "Do you think he didn't want this? Did you think that it wasn't an honest attempt? He sacrificed a ton to rounds of amendments, and it was still a close committee vote." Sacrificed? LOL. He threw a half-baked bill over the fence. In exchange, he got his name in the press for months, and convinced a bunch of his (more credulous) voters that he's an effective politician. This was pure political upside for him, and "amendments" don't even factor into it. Read his public comments; he all but admits that the bill never had a chance of passing.