4 ms·

It's worth noting that home prices are often distorted from supply/demand due to speculation. Still, there can be no doubt that Japan's approach to urban desig

It's worth noting that home prices are often distorted from supply/demand due to speculation. Still, there can be no doubt that Japan's approach to urban design (tightly packed walkable neighborhoods connected to urban centers by a web of transit) scales much better than the approach taken in the states. In the states people scream "we are full" as they sit in endless traffic in cities with an MSA population of maybe 5 million. Meanwhile the Tokyo metropolis, depending on how you measure its limits, can be considered between 10 to 30 million strong.

kurthr 8y ago
And the Tokyo growth rate is 0! It was 2 Million people in 1900. It has been the same population for 10 years, and it's shrinking into 2020. http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/tokyo-population/ http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/tokyo-populati... If you want to work in Tokyo, you can take a 1-2hr train ride each way, like the locals do... or you (and your family) can live in a typical 600sq ft apartment. I love Tokyo, riding the transit and walking around the streets, but be honest about what it is, how people live, and how it got that way. I also love my 12 min commute, back yard garden, and walkable neighborhood in a rapidly growing "metropolis" of 1 million that barely existed 50 years ago.
- helen___keller 8y ago
  >I also love my 12 min commute, back yard garden, and walkable neighborhood in a rapidly growing "metropolis" of 1 million that barely existed 50 years ago. May I ask where you live? Sounds like a dream, but also sounds fairly disconnected from the urban reality that many people face. If the jobs for your industry are in a big coastal city, you'd need to be a multimillionaire for the lifestyle you're describing.
  - kurthr 8y ago
    Nope, SillyValley. Live with 2 room mates and pay less than $2k/mo for a 3/2 with a nice yard in a walkable neighborhood (for music, groceries, food & drink). I've lived in multiple places and I've never had a longer working commute than when I was an off-campus grad student. It's harder if you've got 2 incomes (one in the city the other elsewhere), or you want to live in the Mission with the cool kids (and bum poop), but as a single it's not that hard. You have to make compromises, but they aren't Tokyo compromises. Now I do hate the empty lots driven by Prop13 and 30 years speculation... and I think the current trend of 5-7 story "mixed use" with inadequate parking, inadequate roads, and inadequate transit (sorry a bus line doesn't count) placed next to single story residential is stupid and will cause more problems than it solves. I also don't see a good local solution for homeless in a place where a parking space is >$20 a day. You're not going to find a livable space for less than a parking place... but it's the same in Tokyo.
    - helen___keller 8y ago
      Maybe we're splitting hairs, but if you're paying 1.5 or 1.8 a month rent after you split 3 ways, that's around $5000 a month rent for a 3 bedroom and at city rental yields that's likely a 1.5-mil-plus unit (for ownership), which was kind of my point. If you want to be a homeowner with this property you need to be a multimillionaire. If you look at properties worth 1.5-mil-plus in Tokyo, rather than the average middle class house, I'm sure your opinion of the Japanese lifestyle would be different. The tradeoffs are just as bad as in Tokyo, they're just different tradeoffs. Instead of a tiny house with poor heat insulation with a 50 minute train ride, you have 2 roommates and still pay a hefty sum of rent. That's a no-go for many people, especially those with families.
      - kurthr 8y ago
        You don't need to be a millionaire to either rent or buy a million dollar house. You do need ~$1-200k down payment, but that's not millions. I have the option to rent part if a house, but I've also lived alone or shared $2k/mo total in condo/town in the same area without a garden. A 600sqft apt in Tokyo is about $700k+, but it's true rents (for ethnic Japanese) are lower (not so much for gaijin)... although you need to own to have a traditional wife/family. You also have no option of living in a 200m sq house in any case.

kurthr 8y ago

And the Tokyo growth rate is 0! It was 2 Million people in 1900. It has been the same population for 10 years, and it's shrinking into 2020. http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/tokyo-population/ http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/tokyo-populati... If you want to work in Tokyo, you can take a 1-2hr train ride each way, like the locals do... or you (and your family) can live in a typical 600sq ft apartment. I love Tokyo, riding the transit and walking around the streets, but be honest about what it is, how people live, and how it got that way. I also love my 12 min commute, back yard garden, and walkable neighborhood in a rapidly growing "metropolis" of 1 million that barely existed 50 years ago.

helen___keller 8y ago
>I also love my 12 min commute, back yard garden, and walkable neighborhood in a rapidly growing "metropolis" of 1 million that barely existed 50 years ago. May I ask where you live? Sounds like a dream, but also sounds fairly disconnected from the urban reality that many people face. If the jobs for your industry are in a big coastal city, you'd need to be a multimillionaire for the lifestyle you're describing.
- kurthr 8y ago
  Nope, SillyValley. Live with 2 room mates and pay less than $2k/mo for a 3/2 with a nice yard in a walkable neighborhood (for music, groceries, food & drink). I've lived in multiple places and I've never had a longer working commute than when I was an off-campus grad student. It's harder if you've got 2 incomes (one in the city the other elsewhere), or you want to live in the Mission with the cool kids (and bum poop), but as a single it's not that hard. You have to make compromises, but they aren't Tokyo compromises. Now I do hate the empty lots driven by Prop13 and 30 years speculation... and I think the current trend of 5-7 story "mixed use" with inadequate parking, inadequate roads, and inadequate transit (sorry a bus line doesn't count) placed next to single story residential is stupid and will cause more problems than it solves. I also don't see a good local solution for homeless in a place where a parking space is >$20 a day. You're not going to find a livable space for less than a parking place... but it's the same in Tokyo.
  - helen___keller 8y ago
    Maybe we're splitting hairs, but if you're paying 1.5 or 1.8 a month rent after you split 3 ways, that's around $5000 a month rent for a 3 bedroom and at city rental yields that's likely a 1.5-mil-plus unit (for ownership), which was kind of my point. If you want to be a homeowner with this property you need to be a multimillionaire. If you look at properties worth 1.5-mil-plus in Tokyo, rather than the average middle class house, I'm sure your opinion of the Japanese lifestyle would be different. The tradeoffs are just as bad as in Tokyo, they're just different tradeoffs. Instead of a tiny house with poor heat insulation with a 50 minute train ride, you have 2 roommates and still pay a hefty sum of rent. That's a no-go for many people, especially those with families.
    - kurthr 8y ago
      You don't need to be a millionaire to either rent or buy a million dollar house. You do need ~$1-200k down payment, but that's not millions. I have the option to rent part if a house, but I've also lived alone or shared $2k/mo total in condo/town in the same area without a garden. A 600sqft apt in Tokyo is about $700k+, but it's true rents (for ethnic Japanese) are lower (not so much for gaijin)... although you need to own to have a traditional wife/family. You also have no option of living in a 200m sq house in any case.