Japanese flats usually don't have central heating. They tend to have a/c in one room. The kitchen is usually tiny by western standards. Often there is no bedroo

Japanese flats usually don't have central heating. They tend to have a/c in one room. The kitchen is usually tiny by western standards. Often there is no bedroom -- the living room is used for sleeping. In all, 20-30m² flats are pretty common. This is, of course, a lot cheaper to build than 100m² flats with two bedrooms, central heating and a kitchen bigger than most Japanese restaurants. You can't (or rather, propbably don't want) tiny flats unless you live in a city like Tokyo. Where you can find 24/7 convenience stores everywhere, where there's affordable and tasty food to be found everywhere and at almost any time, where public transport is amazing and affordable. Hell, you don't even need a bath in Japan, as there are public baths everywhere. TL;DR invest in your city and smaller, more affordable housing becomes possible and desirable. If you don't, it'll start to feel like USSR housing really quickly.