2009 July 09 | Tokyo Kawaii, etc.

Archive for July 9th, 2009

How are Japanese houses?

Posted by: kirin on date

Jul 9th, 2009 | filed

Filed under: Rambling

What kind of houses do Japanese people live in?

Some time ago there was a message from Ia at my shout box says;
“I love your blog so much! I was wondering if you may post about living space in Japan? I read that it is very small, how do you fit everything?”

So today I’d like to introduce you houses in Japan.
Here are images of traditional Japanese houses. There are many of these houses out of big cities. Heavy and solemn roof tiles, Fusuma, or paper sliding doors that separate more than 2 tatami rooms, (and there maybe transom windows upper sliding doors), Shoji, paper sliding doors with wooden grid in front of windows instead of curtains, Tokonoma, or alcove where art or flowers are displayed is equipped in tatami rooms, etc. These are the very characteristic interior or exterior that illustrate traditional Japanese housing. Usually two-story detached house with garden is common. The garden is not always very Japanese style as known as “Japanese garden”. Houses like this is not that small. The more away from city the bigger houses can be. :p

Then how about the city area? It’s totally different. As you may know, land price in Tokyo is not cheap. As most of job opportunities are concentrated in Tokyo, people try to live in Tokyo if they can afford that, or at least try to settle at commutable prefectures located next to Tokyo, which means Saitama, Kanagwa and Chiba prefecture, to be more precise. This means Tokyo and these areas of especially easy reach to Tokyo, there is high demand of people who want to live in, hence the rent or price of houses goes high.

I live in Kawasaki-city, Kanagawa prefecture, but just across the Tamagawa river, there’s Tokyo, so I say I blog from Tokyo. There’s no big difference (although land prices are very much different!) and most of non-Japanese can recognize when they hear Tokyo, but how about Kawasaki? (That’s my city.)They would imagine Kawasaki motorcycles!

example of floorplan2 How are Japanese houses?

So how people in Tokyo and outskirts of Tokyo live like? It’s far better to give you images than explain by text. Many people live in an apartment rather than detached house because, as I mentioned, land price is so high.

Here are some examples of casual floorplan for single to live in. In Tokyo, one small room (studio type) or one bedroom of under 20 square meters requires a rent from around 50,000 yen – 80,000 yen or more (USD 500 – 800) which may sounds too expensive for the space. If you are from Hong Kong, you might feel it’s OK, (as land in HK costs high, too and the situation may not differ so much) but I’m sure most of you’d feel uncomfortable with this small space to live in. These days there are young people who share a house or an apartment, but the trend is not that popular when compared with other countries.

Families may rent a house or an apartment but most of them like to buy a house where they will keep living forever, because in Japan buying a house means only one time shopping in one’s life because of the price, whether it’s in Tokyo or countryside.

Here are random examples of major Japanese housing makers. (They are big names and it is not always that we ask them to build a house. Some people hire local architects and builders. )

-MITSUI HOME
-DAIWA HOUSE
-SEKISUI HOUSE
-MISAWA HOME

And Random examples of major Japanese apartment/condo makers. (HUDOSAN is a Japanese word meaning real estate.)

-RECRUIT COSMOS
-NOMURA HUDOSAN
-MITSUI HUDOSAN
-TOKYO TATEMONO
-DAIKYO

Just browsing photos in these sites, you’ll see houses in the city area look much different from those of most other parts in Japan. They are modern and various ways of designs are possible. Of course there are people who buy second-hand house and get it renovated, but in Japan, second-hand house market is very small compared with Europe and the U.S ones, which may because of our housing structure is not durable after 20 – 30 years, due to the humid climate, wooden structure of the house, and frequent earthquakes.

Anyway, my previous job was something to offer a renovation design to the second-hand apartments. Whether it is a traditional old Japanese house or a modern up-to-date Japanese house, there is a basic rule that doesn’t change for centuries. It is that we take off our shoes at the entrance of the house. It is that our way of taking a bath is very unique as this. I like to live in other countries, as I want to experience various life styles in my life, but I can say for sure that I cannot live without Japanese bath, Japanese foods, and taking shoes off to stay with bare foot in the house.

example of floorplan3 How are Japanese houses?

example of floorplan7 How are Japanese houses?

Well, I was a little off the track, Ia. (-_-;) This post looks like a basic info. regarding Japanese housing, and I was not exactly answering to your question, so I’ll continue the post about how we live in a small space cleverly some time later. Stay tuned!