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What I always found interesting about Tokyo was that you could live in all of the various hotspots around the city, alone, on a semi reasonable middle class sal

What I always found interesting about Tokyo was that you could live in all of the various hotspots around the city, alone, on a semi reasonable middle class salary. You would live in a tiny little box, but you could be a 10 minute walk to the middle of Shinjuku or Shibuya. If you are single and don't care about cooking at home it really seemed like a great option. I don't know why in the US we have to be priced out of the biggest cities unless we are making a top 10% income or come from a generation of people who just happened to move there a century again.

ttul 3y ago
http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html
kelnos 3y ago
I suspect it's because most Americans don't want to live in a little box; culture is just different here. And not having a kitchen seems like a deal-breaker for many people (myself included; even when I was in my 20s and ate out most of the time, I don't think I would have tolerated that). And I believe some municipalities in the US won't consider a space legal to rent out if it doesn't include access to a kitchen. Of course, the real reason you have to be rich to afford a decent space in our biggest cities is because there isn't enough housing to satisfy the demand. Build more (and, critically, make it not incredibly expensive to build more), and prices will go down.
- alwayslikethis 3y ago
  Eating out in the US is also much less affordable than it is in Asia, even countries like Japan.
  - sk0g 3y ago
    Yeah coming from Australia, the ramens were like $5 a pop instead of $20+. I couldn't even cook it for as little, never mind the labour costs involved. Oh and the food was amazingly fresh and tasty, without too much in terms of flavouring.
dzhiurgis 3y ago
IIRC most of the houses in Japan are on leasehold. If you actually wanna buy land it costs more than in NZ.

ttul 3y ago

http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html

kelnos 3y ago

I suspect it's because most Americans don't want to live in a little box; culture is just different here. And not having a kitchen seems like a deal-breaker for many people (myself included; even when I was in my 20s and ate out most of the time, I don't think I would have tolerated that). And I believe some municipalities in the US won't consider a space legal to rent out if it doesn't include access to a kitchen. Of course, the real reason you have to be rich to afford a decent space in our biggest cities is because there isn't enough housing to satisfy the demand. Build more (and, critically, make it not incredibly expensive to build more), and prices will go down.

alwayslikethis 3y ago
Eating out in the US is also much less affordable than it is in Asia, even countries like Japan.
- sk0g 3y ago
  Yeah coming from Australia, the ramens were like $5 a pop instead of $20+. I couldn't even cook it for as little, never mind the labour costs involved. Oh and the food was amazingly fresh and tasty, without too much in terms of flavouring.

dzhiurgis 3y ago

IIRC most of the houses in Japan are on leasehold. If you actually wanna buy land it costs more than in NZ.