4 ms·
Do you know to what extent the short life of Japanese housing is a cultural or geographic issue? I've read that the Japanese simply don't like living in older
by bleepblorp 6y ago
Do you know to what extent the short life of Japanese housing is a cultural or geographic issue?
I've read that the Japanese simply don't like living in older buildings, so their housing stock is built with the understanding that it will be torn down and rebuilt on fairly short timescales. I've also read that the frequency of small earthquakes in Japan makes building for the long term very difficult (earthquake damage to structures is cumulative) so it's easier to build housing with a short design life.
However, I don't read a word of Japanese so I have no idea if either of these stories are accurate.
- presentation 6y agoIt is accurate - I live in Japan, it’s a city that’s been destroyed pretty much every few decades either by war or natural calamity - houses beyond 30 years are generally worthless beyond their land value, probably negative since the next tenant will just demolish them. People feel unsafe about earthquake safety of buildings built before the earthquake code changed around 40 years ago and generally wary of older houses in general. Plus people just want creature comforts of better soundproofing, climate control and so on.
- fomine3 6y ago+Typhoon for disaster. And higher humidity makes buildings aging faster.