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Backyard Coffee and Jazz in Kyoto

(thedeletedscenes.substack.com)
592 points wyclif | 4 comments | 23 Jun 25 14:37 UTC | HN request time: 0.606s | source
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mupuff1234 ◴[23 Jun 25 15:01 UTC] No.44356504[source]▶
It all goes back to zoning laws and regulations.
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Cthulhu_ ◴[23 Jun 25 15:11 UTC] No.44356617[source]▶
And economic viability; can the owner make a living wage with this setup, or do they have other income sources? What is their total cost of living?
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1776smithadam ◴[23 Jun 25 15:16 UTC] No.44356672[source]▶
Again, goes back to zoning laws.

Housing is the biggest expenditure for people in America and many parts of the world. Housing is cheap is Japan so people can get by on much less.

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1. spacemadness ◴[23 Jun 25 15:47 UTC] No.44356964[source]▶
The one country that seems to do housing right and not consider it an investment vehicle. Unlike our depressing situation that is tearing society apart.
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2. ajmurmann ◴[23 Jun 25 15:52 UTC] No.44357020[source]▶
That it's considered an investment vehicle is downstream from the rising markets due to tight regulation which limit supply. In Japan what zones exist is standardized across the country and what zone applies to a given area is defined by the government in Tokyo. This prevents local homeowners to lobby for tighter regulation to strangle supply.
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3. Barrin92 ◴[23 Jun 25 16:43 UTC] No.44357588[source]▶
>That it's considered an investment vehicle is downstream from the rising markets

That's not what its downstream from, that's restating the same thing in financial terms. What it's actually downstream from is that Japan is a fully urbanized society. The reason why Americans cannot implement this is because houses are their little homesteads and castles, Fukuyama used the term "suburban villager" for this attitude (also prevalent in Greece and Eastern Europe etc.)

4. timr ◴[23 Jun 25 17:14 UTC] No.44357868[source]▶
Housing is absolutely an investment vehicle in Japan. It's just that Japan has been economically stagnant for 30+ years, bordering on deflation, and anywhere outside of a first- or second-tier city is effectively dying. Couple that with the Japanese cultural distaste for pre-owned housing, and this is the outcome.

If you operate a rental in any area outside of the core of the major cities, you are in the business of charging a huge monthly premium over a property value that is rapidly depreciating to zero. This is fundamentally different than the US.