I live in a 1K, and it’s great as a single person. I do wish I had more storage space, but that’s about it.
I have 45 square metres to myself in downtown Tokyo, 2DK with a massive kitchen area, I love it. I never want to live anywhere bigger or smaller.
Yes, it’s small.
Some people prefer small, cozy places, I prefer large and open space. I wish my apartment was 3x bigger
I have a large house in the countryside, wide open space. It’s in the countryside, and it’s somehow hard to maintain. I guess having a tiny home would have many merits. Maybe it’s just not for me.
I got a 6LDK with a garage and parking on the edge of Sapporo. The yard is missing and there’s no basement, but otherwise it’s pretty near to a comparable house _from when I was a kid_.
New houses in the country I’m from are now usually 8LDK or more, but for what I grew up in, 6LDK would be medium sized.
My rural condo has three rooms plus a kitchen, shower, and toilet room. I’m swimming in space as a single person. Another reason it feels so spacious is the lack of furniture. I shove all my clothes and storage in the closets in the wall, sleep on a futon, and have two small tables and two chairs in the main room. Also have some shelves but overall a lot less furniture than the US. Back home in my bedroom I had a larger bed, nightstand, dresser, and a desk.
Nope… I have one of the bigger houses around, I believe, and I do not need it to be any bigger. Rather I’m working on more storage capacity and smart outlaying which is more than enough.
Current place, 82m plus nice balcony is perfect for the two of us. I shudder thinking about the families of 4 living in the same unit though.
I was previously in a 45m² 2DK on my own, now in a 70m² 3DK with my partner. Both feel very spacious to me.
My home country (UK) also has pretty small housing. My childhood home was 128m² 4-bed and was one of the largest of my friends and family. According to Google average house size in the UK is 76m², but 94m² in Japan, so no, housing here doesn’t seem that small to me. The thing that does bother me however is how tightly packed houses are and the lack of garden space. Although that’s becoming a trend with new builds in the UK aswell.
We’re 5 in a 3LDK that most Japanese find “hiroiiiiiii”. I wouldn’t mind more room though…
Our house is ~110 sqm 4ldks on a 120sqm lot in Tokyo. What I will say is the reason we bought this house and not the slightly bigger one (by about 10sqm) was the layout of this house was that much better – smaller but no wasted space. You also don’t realize how much space sliding/pocket doors save you. That’s literally 1sqm of useable space you gain.
In Saratoga CA our house was 1200sqft (although we had a 1/2 acre yard – I should have kept that house I could sell it and retire easily in a penthouse downtown).
Our first house here was also a 4ldk but on 800sqm of land and the house was 180sqm. That was bigger than any house we’ve owned other than our house in Texas.
My house is 350m2, 11LDK. I used to live in a 70m2 apartment in Tokyo but now life is much better. Inaka ftw!
I have to go outside to change my mind.
I have enough space in a mansion, with a few gripes:
-why in god’s name is the veranda so small, without external power or water taps, and you have to step over a raised pseudo door-window frame? Why not flush with the floor?
-why are there so few power outlets in Japanese kitchens?
-I’d like to have more space in the next place so that I can put up homestays and other long-term guests. I previously used to put up couch surfers, but now that there’s three of us it would be a tight fit.
My current apartment is quite spacious (a 4LDK). I live in Minato but it’s also really expensive.
The first place I stayed at in Japan was definitely pretty small since it was a type of share house (with a private bathroom and shower in each room). Probably around 25 square meters only but it was a good experience. I chose it because I wanted to experience what it was like being a share house.
That would depend on where in the rest of the world you compare it to. Do you mean suburbs in the US?
6LDK about 90 mins from Tokyo by car in Kanagawa. 130m^2 or ~1400sq ft. The rooms are 8jo x 4, 6jo x 1, 4.5jo x 1. LDK is around 12jo, I guess? Have a huge table in there, two fridges, and a big wall unit for extra storage space. There’s an additional storage room connected to the kitchen that isn’t included in the floorplan, and a separate shed with power. Have parking and a small amount of space around the house, big enough to have a few trees, lots of flowers, and space to hang laundry or have a BBQ.
It’s a traditional Japanese house with huge windows and a beautiful interior. Unfortunately there is no insulation so winter heating costs are pretty high. Summer is much less of a problem as we have a constant breeze (near the sea) and mostly just live with the windows open.
Rent is 98,000/month.
We’re very happy with this place and expect to buy something similar in this area later this year or sometime next year. We’d like more land so we’ll see what comes up when we’re ready to buy.
I definitely find it small but I think the worst is how weirdly the usable living space is distributed.
In mine, it’s basically Impossible to put furniture anywhere without severely hampering movement.
The only space for my bed only leaves about 20% of the door to the balcony available. My desk prevents me from fully opening my closet, my fridge is right after my genkan and can barely fit in the gap, etc.
It’s like anywhere you would be expected to put furniture, there’s either a door or a window in the way and/or a total fucking lack of electrical outlet so I end up having to run extensions all over the place crowding the floor with wires.
My house is a little over 100 sqm.
When we bought it we just had a 2 year old and it seemed so huge compared to the cramped apartment we had been living in before that.
Fast forward to today and we now have two kids instead of one and they are growing up and the only thing I don’t like about my house is that it doesn’t have enough space, especially as I contemplate what its going to be like in a few years when the kids are teenagers.
We don’t have a basement, a garage or an attic, so storage is really limited. With kids you are just constantly surrounded in clutter and the lack of a place to either store it, or to say “OK kids, this is the part of the house that you can mess up, but keep your toys out of the rest of it” like my parents used to do with me (designating the basement that way) means you are constantly surrounded by a very chaotic looking home environment.
Yard wise I wish we had a bigger one too. Unlike most contemporary houses we actually do have one, and we expanded it after buying the place by ripping up one of the concrete parking spaces it came with and planting grass and a nice tree on the spot, but I wish we had more. I have enough that I can plant some trees to grow stuff (have an olive tree, orange tree, cherry tree and grape vine that are producing), can have a kiddie inflatable pool in the summer and can do barbeques with enough space for people to sit comfortably in lawn chairs (again this is way more than can be said of most “yards” here), but there are a lot of things we can’t do. No tree houses for the kids, not enough room to play catch, etc.
I can’t complain really, but generally I wish both my house and my yard were about 50% bigger than they actually are.
Nope.
Lived in Hong Kong before where housing is just as small as Japan if not more in some areas. My grandparents and 1 aunt used to lived in a 300 sq feet public housing that was 2DK where my first 1K apartment in Japan was about the same size but more usable. Also lived in Australia before where I find houses way too big when I was forced to do all the chores and gardening. I don’t want to mow lawns under 36 degree summer heat ever again in my life.
Japanese size and design is just right for me – living in a 3LDK property now that’s about half the size of what I lived in in Australia with no lawns to take care of and I can’t be happier.
I live in Tokyo. I share a 47 square meter place with my partner, and it feels just barely big enough for the two of us.
I feel the entire apartment I’m in now would fit in the living room of the apartment I used to have in the US, and it costs more. I didn’t live somewhere like LA or NY so it wasn’t difficult to find a decent sized place at a reasonable price there, even close to the city. For reference, I could rent a two story house in my hometown for what we’re paying now.
Fuck you small house. But wait, cleaning takes no time at all.
Okay, fuck you tiny non-existent yard. No yardwork or lawn mowing, and there’s a community garden for socializing and plenty of parks.
Alright, fine. Fuck you cramped rooms. Do you really need that much space? Throw away some stuff or buy smaller furniture.
Ugh, fine. It’s all good. It sure is.
Depends how you were brought up tbh, i come from a wealthy family that had 5bedrooms , 3 bathrooms etc and i find my house in Japan to be quite small..but my wife and her friends all say it’s a huge house. The kitchen dining living room all connected make it seem like a small place, i don’t have much of a hallway seperating each room in my house in Japan. The kitchen/dining is 15jou and my living room is 16jou, if a 3 piece sofa can;t be laid out without touching the walls then i find that as a small space.
I used to live in a 3SLDK with ~130sqm. I’ve just moved to a 2LDK with 64sqm. While it was certainly an adjustment in the beginning, losing half the area, I think I might actually like it more overall. Forced me to downsize, get creative and shift to a more minimalist approach.
I look at homes in the US (for example) and just think “why?”. No one *needs* that much space.
130 sq meter. dunno how to feel about it. when I look at lots of people’s houses in the US they seem massive. and have a proper garage to pick up woodworking or something lol. kinda jealous NGL!
55m2 is just enough for two people. central Tokyo.
Cue all the humble brags haha.
Grew up poor in the UK. Family home wasn’t much bigger and definitely couldn’t walk to everywhere I need to be.
My partner and I share a decent sized 3LDK, around 70sqm with a nice balcony. We both have an office space, comfy bed available for guests. It feels like plenty of space for us. No idea why anyone would need such a massive home other than a workshop space for messy hobbies etc. Sounds like a nightmare to heat / cool / keep clean from countryside bugses.
I don’t think houses are smaller here than outside of Japan.
Maybe if you’re a westerner but I’m pretty sure that in any densely populated city in the world, houses are kind of the same size.
28 comments
I live in a 1K, and it’s great as a single person. I do wish I had more storage space, but that’s about it.
I have 45 square metres to myself in downtown Tokyo, 2DK with a massive kitchen area, I love it. I never want to live anywhere bigger or smaller.
Yes, it’s small.
Some people prefer small, cozy places, I prefer large and open space.
I wish my apartment was 3x bigger
I have a large house in the countryside, wide open space. It’s in the countryside, and it’s somehow hard to maintain. I guess having a tiny home would have many merits. Maybe it’s just not for me.
I got a 6LDK with a garage and parking on the edge of Sapporo. The yard is missing and there’s no basement, but otherwise it’s pretty near to a comparable house _from when I was a kid_.
New houses in the country I’m from are now usually 8LDK or more, but for what I grew up in, 6LDK would be medium sized.
My rural condo has three rooms plus a kitchen, shower, and toilet room. I’m swimming in space as a single person. Another reason it feels so spacious is the lack of furniture. I shove all my clothes and storage in the closets in the wall, sleep on a futon, and have two small tables and two chairs in the main room. Also have some shelves but overall a lot less furniture than the US. Back home in my bedroom I had a larger bed, nightstand, dresser, and a desk.
Nope… I have one of the bigger houses around, I believe, and I do not need it to be any bigger. Rather I’m working on more storage capacity and smart outlaying which is more than enough.
Current place, 82m plus nice balcony is perfect for the two of us. I shudder thinking about the families of 4 living in the same unit though.
I was previously in a 45m² 2DK on my own, now in a 70m² 3DK with my partner. Both feel very spacious to me.
My home country (UK) also has pretty small housing. My childhood home was 128m² 4-bed and was one of the largest of my friends and family. According to Google average house size in the UK is 76m², but 94m² in Japan, so no, housing here doesn’t seem that small to me.
The thing that does bother me however is how tightly packed houses are and the lack of garden space. Although that’s becoming a trend with new builds in the UK aswell.
We’re 5 in a 3LDK that most Japanese find “hiroiiiiiii”.
I wouldn’t mind more room though…
Our house is ~110 sqm 4ldks on a 120sqm lot in Tokyo. What I will say is the reason we bought this house and not the slightly bigger one (by about 10sqm) was the layout of this house was that much better – smaller but no wasted space. You also don’t realize how much space sliding/pocket doors save you. That’s literally 1sqm of useable space you gain.
In Saratoga CA our house was 1200sqft (although we had a 1/2 acre yard – I should have kept that house I could sell it and retire easily in a penthouse downtown).
Our first house here was also a 4ldk but on 800sqm of land and the house was 180sqm. That was bigger than any house we’ve owned other than our house in Texas.
My house is 350m2, 11LDK. I used to live in a 70m2 apartment in Tokyo but now life is much better. Inaka ftw!
I have to go outside to change my mind.
I have enough space in a mansion, with a few gripes:
-why in god’s name is the veranda so small, without external power or water taps, and you have to step over a raised pseudo door-window frame? Why not flush with the floor?
-why are there so few power outlets in Japanese kitchens?
-I’d like to have more space in the next place so that I can put up homestays and other long-term guests. I previously used to put up couch surfers, but now that there’s three of us it would be a tight fit.
My current apartment is quite spacious (a 4LDK). I live in Minato but it’s also really expensive.
The first place I stayed at in Japan was definitely pretty small since it was a type of share house (with a private bathroom and shower in each room). Probably around 25 square meters only but it was a good experience. I chose it because I wanted to experience what it was like being a share house.
That would depend on where in the rest of the world you compare it to. Do you mean suburbs in the US?
6LDK about 90 mins from Tokyo by car in Kanagawa. 130m^2 or ~1400sq ft. The rooms are 8jo x 4, 6jo x 1, 4.5jo x 1. LDK is around 12jo, I guess? Have a huge table in there, two fridges, and a big wall unit for extra storage space. There’s an additional storage room connected to the kitchen that isn’t included in the floorplan, and a separate shed with power. Have parking and a small amount of space around the house, big enough to have a few trees, lots of flowers, and space to hang laundry or have a BBQ.
It’s a traditional Japanese house with huge windows and a beautiful interior. Unfortunately there is no insulation so winter heating costs are pretty high. Summer is much less of a problem as we have a constant breeze (near the sea) and mostly just live with the windows open.
Rent is 98,000/month.
We’re very happy with this place and expect to buy something similar in this area later this year or sometime next year. We’d like more land so we’ll see what comes up when we’re ready to buy.
I definitely find it small but I think the worst is how weirdly the usable living space is distributed.
In mine, it’s basically Impossible to put furniture anywhere without severely hampering movement.
The only space for my bed only leaves about 20% of the door to the balcony available. My desk prevents me from fully opening my closet, my fridge is right after my genkan and can barely fit in the gap, etc.
It’s like anywhere you would be expected to put furniture, there’s either a door or a window in the way and/or a total fucking lack of electrical outlet so I end up having to run extensions all over the place crowding the floor with wires.
My house is a little over 100 sqm.
When we bought it we just had a 2 year old and it seemed so huge compared to the cramped apartment we had been living in before that.
Fast forward to today and we now have two kids instead of one and they are growing up and the only thing I don’t like about my house is that it doesn’t have enough space, especially as I contemplate what its going to be like in a few years when the kids are teenagers.
We don’t have a basement, a garage or an attic, so storage is really limited. With kids you are just constantly surrounded in clutter and the lack of a place to either store it, or to say “OK kids, this is the part of the house that you can mess up, but keep your toys out of the rest of it” like my parents used to do with me (designating the basement that way) means you are constantly surrounded by a very chaotic looking home environment.
Yard wise I wish we had a bigger one too. Unlike most contemporary houses we actually do have one, and we expanded it after buying the place by ripping up one of the concrete parking spaces it came with and planting grass and a nice tree on the spot, but I wish we had more. I have enough that I can plant some trees to grow stuff (have an olive tree, orange tree, cherry tree and grape vine that are producing), can have a kiddie inflatable pool in the summer and can do barbeques with enough space for people to sit comfortably in lawn chairs (again this is way more than can be said of most “yards” here), but there are a lot of things we can’t do. No tree houses for the kids, not enough room to play catch, etc.
I can’t complain really, but generally I wish both my house and my yard were about 50% bigger than they actually are.
Nope.
Lived in Hong Kong before where housing is just as small as Japan if not more in some areas. My grandparents and 1 aunt used to lived in a 300 sq feet public housing that was 2DK where my first 1K apartment in Japan was about the same size but more usable. Also lived in Australia before where I find houses way too big when I was forced to do all the chores and gardening. I don’t want to mow lawns under 36 degree summer heat ever again in my life.
Japanese size and design is just right for me – living in a 3LDK property now that’s about half the size of what I lived in in Australia with no lawns to take care of and I can’t be happier.
I live in Tokyo. I share a 47 square meter place with my partner, and it feels just barely big enough for the two of us.
I feel the entire apartment I’m in now would fit in the living room of the apartment I used to have in the US, and it costs more. I didn’t live somewhere like LA or NY so it wasn’t difficult to find a decent sized place at a reasonable price there, even close to the city. For reference, I could rent a two story house in my hometown for what we’re paying now.
Fuck you small house.
But wait, cleaning takes no time at all.
Okay, fuck you tiny non-existent yard.
No yardwork or lawn mowing, and there’s a community garden for socializing and plenty of parks.
Alright, fine. Fuck you cramped rooms.
Do you really need that much space? Throw away some stuff or buy smaller furniture.
Ugh, fine. It’s all good.
It sure is.
Depends how you were brought up tbh, i come from a wealthy family that had 5bedrooms , 3 bathrooms etc and i find my house in Japan to be quite small..but my wife and her friends all say it’s a huge house. The kitchen dining living room all connected make it seem like a small place, i don’t have much of a hallway seperating each room in my house in Japan. The kitchen/dining is 15jou and my living room is 16jou, if a 3 piece sofa can;t be laid out without touching the walls then i find that as a small space.
I used to live in a 3SLDK with ~130sqm. I’ve just moved to a 2LDK with 64sqm. While it was certainly an adjustment in the beginning, losing half the area, I think I might actually like it more overall. Forced me to downsize, get creative and shift to a more minimalist approach.
I look at homes in the US (for example) and just think “why?”. No one *needs* that much space.
130 sq meter. dunno how to feel about it. when I look at lots of people’s houses in the US they seem massive. and have a proper garage to pick up woodworking or something lol. kinda jealous NGL!
55m2 is just enough for two people. central Tokyo.
Cue all the humble brags haha.
Grew up poor in the UK. Family home wasn’t much bigger and definitely couldn’t walk to everywhere I need to be.
My partner and I share a decent sized 3LDK, around 70sqm with a nice balcony. We both have an office space, comfy bed available for guests. It feels like plenty of space for us. No idea why anyone would need such a massive home other than a workshop space for messy hobbies etc. Sounds like a nightmare to heat / cool / keep clean from countryside bugses.
I don’t think houses are smaller here than outside of Japan.
Maybe if you’re a westerner but I’m pretty sure that in any densely populated city in the world, houses are kind of the same size.