3 ms·

Rents per square ft / tatami mat are not that reasonable in Tokyo. Westerners are generally treated with caution rather than friendly greets on the street too.

Rents per square ft / tatami mat are not that reasonable in Tokyo. Westerners are generally treated with caution rather than friendly greets on the street too...

benrbray 6y ago
As a Tokyo resident I have to disagree with you on both points. Rent is cheap (just don't live right next to Shibuya crossing) and people are incredibly welcoming. Sure, they'll politely ignore you on the train, but that's the same as any big city in the states.
- fossuser 6y ago
  Yeah - I swear patio11 has written extensively about this, but on a quick search I couldn’t find it. Basically Tokyo builds proper housing supply so it’s easily affordable, but as a result housing is not a good place to invest money. In the US housing is seen as an investment which creates bad policy and perverse incentives to constrain supply in order to enrich existing owners. Housing can be affordable or a good investment, but it can’t really be both. Tokyo does this the right way and SF (along with the Bay Area and America generally) does it wrong. Housing in Tokyo is relatively cheap. Somewhat unrelated I found this one while looking which I loved when I first read it. It’s about a super cool tax policy Japan implemented to help rural areas that people leave for the city, it incentivizes people to send some of that money back: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2018/10/19/japanese-hometown-tax/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2018/10/19/japanese-hometown-tax/
  - patio11 6y ago
    I write about it on Twitter a bit, and should probably upgrade it to an essay at some point just so people who share my intersection of interests have a convenient entry point.
gkanai 6y ago
> not that reasonable in Tokyo It depends on which part of the 23 wards of Tokyo you refer to. Central Tokyo, yes, it can be expensive, close to Manhattan rents. But farther outside of central Tokyo, you can get very reasonable rents. And there's a lot more options in Tokyo when you factor in reliable public transport and a much larger metro area than the 5 boroughs of NYC.

Rents per square ft / tatami mat are not that reasonable in Tokyo. Westerners are generally treated with caution rather than friendly greets on the street too...

benrbray 6y ago

As a Tokyo resident I have to disagree with you on both points. Rent is cheap (just don't live right next to Shibuya crossing) and people are incredibly welcoming. Sure, they'll politely ignore you on the train, but that's the same as any big city in the states.

fossuser 6y ago
Yeah - I swear patio11 has written extensively about this, but on a quick search I couldn’t find it. Basically Tokyo builds proper housing supply so it’s easily affordable, but as a result housing is not a good place to invest money. In the US housing is seen as an investment which creates bad policy and perverse incentives to constrain supply in order to enrich existing owners. Housing can be affordable or a good investment, but it can’t really be both. Tokyo does this the right way and SF (along with the Bay Area and America generally) does it wrong. Housing in Tokyo is relatively cheap. Somewhat unrelated I found this one while looking which I loved when I first read it. It’s about a super cool tax policy Japan implemented to help rural areas that people leave for the city, it incentivizes people to send some of that money back: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2018/10/19/japanese-hometown-tax/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2018/10/19/japanese-hometown-tax/
- patio11 6y ago
  I write about it on Twitter a bit, and should probably upgrade it to an essay at some point just so people who share my intersection of interests have a convenient entry point.

gkanai 6y ago

> not that reasonable in Tokyo It depends on which part of the 23 wards of Tokyo you refer to. Central Tokyo, yes, it can be expensive, close to Manhattan rents. But farther outside of central Tokyo, you can get very reasonable rents. And there's a lot more options in Tokyo when you factor in reliable public transport and a much larger metro area than the 5 boroughs of NYC.