And that makes it less wasteful? At any rate there are lots of unusual things about Japan, including the post-WW2 rapid transformation it went, that make it har

And that makes it less wasteful? At any rate there are lots of unusual things about Japan, including the post-WW2 rapid transformation it went, that make it hard to judge whether typical rebuilding rates are "wasteful" compared to other developed countries. But it is true there's a lack of much tendency to value "historical" buildings we tend to outside Japan (and arguably most Asian countries).