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Wow I don't think I've ever seen such an America-centric comment in all my time reading here. Impressive that you are willing to jump to "defund the japanese po

Wow I don't think I've ever seen such an America-centric comment in all my time reading here. Impressive that you are willing to jump to "defund the japanese police" despite not even knowing that housing is not a problem in Japan by any stretch of the imagination.

qwerty456127 3y ago
> Wow I don't think I've ever seen such an America-centric comment in all my time reading here. I'm from Europe and can't imagine housing being affordable anywhere in the world besides the places where people feel happy living in stick&mud huts. > Impressive that you are willing to jump to "defund the japanese police" despite not even knowing that housing is not a problem in Japan by any stretch of the imagination. Because that's sort of a figurative expression. Housing problem is just a random pick relatively relevant to the most of the developed countries. Pick any other problem which could use some additional resources allocated instead if it's not the case for Japan. It probably still has some, hasn't it?
- OrigamiPastrami 3y ago
  Why do you assume Japan is the same as Europe?
  - qwerty456127 3y ago
    In regard to housing - I assume it's approximately the same all over the world.
    - simondotau 3y ago
      That’s an unrealistic assumption. It wasn’t even the same in your own part of the world fifty years ago.
    - OrigamiPastrami 3y ago
      You might want to challenge your assumptions and learn something in the process. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/opinion/editorials/tokyo-housing.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/opinion/editorials/tokyo-...
      - qwerty456127 3y ago
        I'm reading. Thank you.
      - bornfreddy 3y ago
        https://archive.is/f9uZP https://archive.is/f9uZP
    - vsnf 3y ago
      You should reevaluate this assumption. Japan is a famous, well known, and well studied counter example.
    - nindalf 3y ago
      You don’t learn by talking, you learn by listening. And you’re talking too much about Japan for someone who knew nothing about the place and extrapolated that it must be like Europe.
      - qwerty456127 3y ago
        Who would tell me anything to listen about housing in Japan if didn't say anything about it? I never ever heard about housing being more affordable in Japan than in the rest of the world until today. Now I learnt something and feel happy and grateful about this. By the way I still doubt it's so affordable there that I myself would consider it affordable. I would after hearing the majority of people who are homeless or live with their parents saying they seriously just prefer living this way. I consider Japan to be a great example other countries should learn from in a number of ways though.
- ajmurmann 3y ago
  Japan has avoided much of the housing issues we have in much in the western world, and in the English-speaking world in particular. Some factors in this is that construction is much more by-right, has sensible zoning, excludes a gnarly community process and is planned centrally instead locally which in combination avoids all issues with NIMBYs and results in a good housing supply. A great article on zoning to get started on this: https://devonzuegel.com/north-american-vs-japanese-zoning https://devonzuegel.com/north-american-vs-japanese-zoning
  - qwerty456127 3y ago
    Well, this is curious. I will study this. At least one useful comment, thank you. Nevertheless, if housing is so affordable in Japan, why are there still people who don't own homes? Can an average McDonalds worker in their 20-ies just go and buy a home easily without applying for a lifetime-long mortgage?
    - Barrin92 3y ago
      > if housing is so affordable in Japan, why are there still people who don't own homes? You literally have it the wrong way around. There's less incentive to own homes in countries where housing prices fall. Owning a home actually costs you money, it isn't a good investment in the absence of artificial scarcity. In Japan a house is a consumer good like a car, in fact on average the value of most houses drops to about zero in 30-40 years. Some of the richest countries in the world have the lowest rates of personal home ownership, Switzerland, Germany, Japan among them because it isn't an investment vehicle and rent protections are good. This narrative of being desperate to own a home just doesn't make any sense.
      - qwerty456127 3y ago
        I consider the value of owning a house is being free from having to pay rent rather than to gain on the investment. The fact a house is considered an investment (in full meaning of the term so once you own it you worry when its price falls) means it's not really affordable.
- soraminazuki 3y ago
  > where people feel happy living in stick&mud huts That's an incredibly insulting way of describing someone, let alone whole populations, don't you think?
dang 3y ago
Please make your substantive points without crossing into personal (or, for that matter, nationalistic) attacks. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

qwerty456127 3y ago

> Wow I don't think I've ever seen such an America-centric comment in all my time reading here. I'm from Europe and can't imagine housing being affordable anywhere in the world besides the places where people feel happy living in stick&mud huts. > Impressive that you are willing to jump to "defund the japanese police" despite not even knowing that housing is not a problem in Japan by any stretch of the imagination. Because that's sort of a figurative expression. Housing problem is just a random pick relatively relevant to the most of the developed countries. Pick any other problem which could use some additional resources allocated instead if it's not the case for Japan. It probably still has some, hasn't it?

OrigamiPastrami 3y ago
Why do you assume Japan is the same as Europe?
- qwerty456127 3y ago
  In regard to housing - I assume it's approximately the same all over the world.
  - simondotau 3y ago
    That’s an unrealistic assumption. It wasn’t even the same in your own part of the world fifty years ago.
  - OrigamiPastrami 3y ago
    You might want to challenge your assumptions and learn something in the process. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/opinion/editorials/tokyo-housing.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/opinion/editorials/tokyo-...
    - qwerty456127 3y ago
      I'm reading. Thank you.
    - bornfreddy 3y ago
      https://archive.is/f9uZP https://archive.is/f9uZP
  - vsnf 3y ago
    You should reevaluate this assumption. Japan is a famous, well known, and well studied counter example.
  - nindalf 3y ago
    You don’t learn by talking, you learn by listening. And you’re talking too much about Japan for someone who knew nothing about the place and extrapolated that it must be like Europe.
    - qwerty456127 3y ago
      Who would tell me anything to listen about housing in Japan if didn't say anything about it? I never ever heard about housing being more affordable in Japan than in the rest of the world until today. Now I learnt something and feel happy and grateful about this. By the way I still doubt it's so affordable there that I myself would consider it affordable. I would after hearing the majority of people who are homeless or live with their parents saying they seriously just prefer living this way. I consider Japan to be a great example other countries should learn from in a number of ways though.
ajmurmann 3y ago
Japan has avoided much of the housing issues we have in much in the western world, and in the English-speaking world in particular. Some factors in this is that construction is much more by-right, has sensible zoning, excludes a gnarly community process and is planned centrally instead locally which in combination avoids all issues with NIMBYs and results in a good housing supply. A great article on zoning to get started on this: https://devonzuegel.com/north-american-vs-japanese-zoning https://devonzuegel.com/north-american-vs-japanese-zoning
- qwerty456127 3y ago
  Well, this is curious. I will study this. At least one useful comment, thank you. Nevertheless, if housing is so affordable in Japan, why are there still people who don't own homes? Can an average McDonalds worker in their 20-ies just go and buy a home easily without applying for a lifetime-long mortgage?
  - Barrin92 3y ago
    > if housing is so affordable in Japan, why are there still people who don't own homes? You literally have it the wrong way around. There's less incentive to own homes in countries where housing prices fall. Owning a home actually costs you money, it isn't a good investment in the absence of artificial scarcity. In Japan a house is a consumer good like a car, in fact on average the value of most houses drops to about zero in 30-40 years. Some of the richest countries in the world have the lowest rates of personal home ownership, Switzerland, Germany, Japan among them because it isn't an investment vehicle and rent protections are good. This narrative of being desperate to own a home just doesn't make any sense.
    - qwerty456127 3y ago
      I consider the value of owning a house is being free from having to pay rent rather than to gain on the investment. The fact a house is considered an investment (in full meaning of the term so once you own it you worry when its price falls) means it's not really affordable.
soraminazuki 3y ago
> where people feel happy living in stick&mud huts That's an incredibly insulting way of describing someone, let alone whole populations, don't you think?

dang 3y ago

Please make your substantive points without crossing into personal (or, for that matter, nationalistic) attacks. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html