"But zoning may be the real winner here. Japan’s zoning laws are national—so no local weirdness hampering construction and driving up prices. The system has 12

"But zoning may be the real winner here. Japan’s zoning laws are national—so no local weirdness hampering construction and driving up prices. The system has 12 zones progressing from residential to commercial and industrial. Any buildings allowed in zone 1 are also allowed in the following zones. Basically: Housing can be built almost anywhere, even on extremely skinny or odd-sized parcels of land. This increases the amount of usable residential space and helps builders continue to meet demand, keeping housing costs under control. " Fighting for something like this here will be one of the fights of the younger generations, otherwise they will be permanently locked out in any city with jobs. (There is plenty of housing where there are no jobs.) Local NIMBY zoning must die. Its basically a cartel: collusion to restrict supply and drive prices artificially high.