The cultural differences make this comparison less meaningful than you’d expect. In Japan you absolutely never have friends over to your house or apartment. Everyone meets at bars or restaurants. Similar to nyc, many apartments in Tokyo are a few hundred square feet and literally only serve as a place to sleep and shower. That means houses aren’t such a major thing and so the Japanese invest way less time and energy (and place less importance on) their homes.
My parents lived in japan and I have a few friends there. I spoke with a friend who works in graphic design on the outskirts of Tokyo who doesn’t even own a fridge - all his meals are eaten outside of his home.
> The cultural differences make this comparison less meaningful than you’d expect
If these cultural differences are so strong, then surely a market that allows new construction in the U.S. will tend toward creating housing that meets those needs. If it doesn't, it's probably because people place more value on other things (e.g. proximity, price, etc).
The fact is that the market doesn't even get a chance to work itself out in the U.S. because cities encode a particular set of living preferences in law.
> absolutely never have friends over to your house or apartment
Absolute statements like that are just clearly not true. I've been to Japanese friends' apartments, even visited friends' family barbecue or wine tasting night.
I agree. When I lived in Japan, I was invited to (local) friends' places often, including for a couple of kotatsu sleepover parties. It was probably more frequent than being invited to a friend's place in Vancouver.
Probably because most of my friends in Vancouver live in sharehouses or basement suites where they aren't allowed to have guests by their landlord, while my friends in Japan had small but respectable spaces that they had much more permissive ownership of.
The article has almost no content, but one of the three facts it provides is that Tokyo has 3-bedroom houses on offer for anyone who wants one, for $300K and 1% annual interest. It's not about 300sqft apartments.
My parents lived in japan and I have a few friends there. I spoke with a friend who works in graphic design on the outskirts of Tokyo who doesn’t even own a fridge - all his meals are eaten outside of his home.