Housing in Tokyo Is Far Cheaper and More Spacious Than You Think

Re:Housing in Tokyo Is Far Cheaper and More Spacious Than Yo... by Danieru on Tuesday November 01, 2022 @11:45AM (#33422772)

Tokyo's building codes do require bathrooms. Plus minimum sunshine for a room to count as a bedroom, along with shutters on all windows.

What caught my eye about your comment is central heating. Japan in fact penalizes central heating. Not just not requiring it but going so far as to increase property taxes slightly.

In Japan's case it is a desire to reduce energy intensity in a country dependent on energy imports.

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Re:Housing in Tokyo Is Far Cheaper and More Spacious Than Yo... by throwaway2037 on Tuesday November 01, 2022 @12:47PM (#33423726)

You wrote: <<Japan in fact penalizes central heating>>

I belive it. Japan housing is so inefficient for a wealthly / highly industriaslied country: It is bizarre!

I tried to Google about this topic, but I did not find anything. Can you provide a hint about your source?

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Re:Housing in Tokyo Is Far Cheaper and More Spacious Than Yo... by namdnay on Tuesday November 01, 2022 @03:40PM (#33426399)

what do you mean by inefficient? japanese houses are remarkably energy-efficient for their climate. they are very breezy, which cuts down on AC use in the summer, and in winter you heat specific objects instead of the entire house

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Re:Housing in Tokyo Is Far Cheaper and More Spacious Than Yo... by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday November 01, 2022 @04:06PM (#33426754)

That really isn't true. A lot of older housing in Japan has really bad insulation, you are basically stuck with a kotatsu in the winter not by choice.

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Re:Housing in Tokyo Is Far Cheaper and More Spacious Than Yo... by ricktdotorg on Tuesday November 01, 2022 @07:00PM (#33428930)

i took GP's comment of "heating specific objects" to mean an object like a kotatsu.

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Re:Housing in Tokyo Is Far Cheaper and More Spacious Than Yo... by namdnay on Friday November 04, 2022 @08:15AM (#33465319)

That’s on purpose, to avoid mold in the summer. And heating a kotatsu and a bed instead of an entire house is way more energy efficient

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Re:Housing in Tokyo Is Far Cheaper and More Spacious Than Yo... by nmfisher on Wednesday November 02, 2022 @05:45AM (#33433331)

> Tokyo's building codes do require bathrooms. Plus minimum sunshine for a room to count as a bedroom, along with shutters on all windows.

I'm actually interested to know if Melbourne has similar minimum standards. I'm mostly in favour of deregulating residential construction, but after seeing multiple shoddily built apartments with next to no sunlight in the Melbourne CBD, I shifted a bit closer to the "regulation" side of the spectrum.

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