I agree strongly with his point that the Japanese style of zoning is more capitalistic. Everything about modern zoning in American cities exists to prevent you

I agree strongly with his point that the Japanese style of zoning is more capitalistic. Everything about modern zoning in American cities exists to prevent your neighbors from using their land how they want to use it. We've made great advances in quality of life since the 1920s, but most places to live around my area date pre-war unless you can afford to live in a glass tower luxury condo complex. Rebuilding those 1920s-era buildings is generally not possible, and definitely not economical. In Japan, it's common practice to buy a plot of land, demolish any structure currently on that land, and build your dream home from a catalog (based on your budget, of course). It's bafflingly capitalistic compared to how my city is run, where most of the housing stock is in violation of current zoning law, you're lucky if the house you want to buy doesn't have any asbestos, and presence of lead is treated as a dont-ask-dont-tell situation.