> Can you elaborate on the specific pieces and strands of red tape that are asking to be cut that don't impact safety? Sure, basically everything the US has th

> Can you elaborate on the specific pieces and strands of red tape that are asking to be cut that don't impact safety? Sure, basically everything the US has that Japan doesn't have. Now, building regulations are often local in the US, so you can't generalize perfectly across the whole country. But for example, it's common to have planning boards that can block new construction for any reason, and community meetings where residents can raise any objection. The result of this can be residents complaining at meetings before development that a building is "too tall" (even though zoning allows that height), casts shadows, would impact parking or traffic, etc. and then the planning board will deny construction or force the developer to change plans based on those things. This is notoriously common in my native bay area, for example. In contrast, Japan has building regulations work like how laws are supposed to work: what's actually written in the code is the law, not what exists in the minds of nearby residents and planning officials.