Japan's Housing for the Middle Class - YouTube

Hello World, something that has fascinated me

ever since I moved to Japan six years ago is Danchi.

Now the kanji for Danchi literally means group land.

However, what it's really describing,

is government housing complexes like those behind me.

Now the inspiration comes from the Soviets.

So their government housing,

which probably accounts for the utilitarian design you see.

Now what I like about Danchi,

is that they were often built as communities,

rather than stand alone complexes.

That's why it's common to see day cares,

community centers, stores, and parks nearby.

And the reason I think I came across

so many of them during my urban explorations,

is because they are often connected to the greenways

that I like to bike and walk along.

Now while Danchi is the term used

for these apartment complexes,

it doesn't mean they're all government owned

or that they all serve the same purpose.

Many are managed by local governments

and are intended for low income people.

So social housing.

While some are owned by companies

as a way to provide housing for employees.

What I'll show you today though is the units designed

for the middle class, or market housing,

which are owned and operated

by the semi-public entity called UR,

or UR in Japanese.

UR's original name was Nihon Jutaku Kodan.

The name changed several times and now it's called the Urban Renaissance Agency.

And it was them that were responsible

for the initial designs of Danchi,

both for themselves and the local governments.

That's why I went to UR's museum

to show you how they looked like when it all started.

And if you've been into modern Japanese apartment buildings,

a lot of these design features will look quite familiar.

There's the sliding doors, called fusuma,

which can be opened up when having a party,

or closed off to make a small private room.

The kitchen units, despite the changes in appliances,

still look relatively similar,

with the sink, stove, and cupboards sharing a single wall.

And according to UR, it was them that suggested

a new housing style, the so-called DK dining kitchen style

to separate the dining room and bedroom.

So when you see those Japanese housing listings

with DK in them, like 2DK for a unit with 2 bedrooms

and a dining room and a kitchen,

you know where that usage came from.

The separation of the bathing room

from the toilet was also done.

Although at this time,

having a private bath was still a luxury

as most people went to bathe

at public bathing houses called sentos.

While some units had the traditional

Japanese style squat toilets, or washiki,

others had Western style toilets installed.

Seeing the history museum was great,

but I wanted to see what more recent designs looked like,

so UR got me into one of their complexes built in 2006.

Keep in mind that the units you saw previously

and the units you are about to see today

are ones designed for middle income earners.

Unlike some previous places I saw,

where the grocery stores were right at the bottom

of the building, this place has a commercial center

that's right at the edge.

The one disadvantage I saw of this planned space

is that the nearest major train station

is about a 30 minute walk away.

It is on a bus route though,

but generally if you're working in the main areas of Tokyo

you'd probably be looking at a 45 to 60 minute commute

by train and bus.

But let's go into a unit and see

what a two bedroom place looks like.

At the entrance there's the ubiquitous genkan,

where you take off your shoes and then enter the home.

Once again, you have your toilet, bathing, and sink

and laundry areas all separate,

which allows multiple people to use them at the same time.

And oh yeah, it's BYOWM, bring your own washing machine.

There's the kitchen that takes up one wall,

and then another blank wall can be used

for furnishings you bring yourself.

And of course there's space to place a fridge

you bring on your own,

which is also standard practice for Japanese housing.

Some rooms are separated by fusuma, or sliding doors.

And this room here has more privacy,

but also doesn't get much light

since it's facing the outdoor hallway,

and not much of a view since the window

is frosted for privacy.

One thing you'll notice is the lack of tatami rooms,

which were once a standard,

but now are becoming rarer in new builds.

And here's the balcony, where you'd hang dry your laundry.

Even in the most experience units

you'll still see this kind of setup.

Dryers just aren't a big thing in Japan.

On the balcony you'll also find the fire escape

that you can use in case of an emergency.

I find there's very little wasted space

in terms of corridors and everything

can be easily compartmentalized.

It's quite different from the open floor planning

you see in modern Western places.

Outside of the units, there's the easy access panels

that let service people get to all the utilities.

There's also service panels inside of the unit as well.

A fascinating unit I saw was one designed

with separate entrances.

I didn't film it well, but to the right of this tiny kitchen

is a sliding door connecting to the main unit.

I think it's originally meant for a couple taking care

of an elderly parent,

but nowadays it seems equally as useful for a couple

still housing an adult child of theirs.

Standard in any Tokyo apartment building is the bicycle parking.

What comes at an extra cost is the car parking.

This is the recycling and waste disposal center,

where everything is sorted out by the residents.

One thing that was mandated for the area

was that they build in a green manner,

so you'll notice the green roofs

that also have solar panels on top.

In this community of buildings,

you'll also find a community room,

like over here, as well as a daycare center.

Unlike some previous communities they built,

which had space for grocery stores

and other retail units on the bottom,

this design has retail housed in its own building.

Surrounding it you can see the schools as well.

Something I haven't talked about yet

is why UR is quite attractive to foreigners.

One of the main features of UR units

is that they are first come, first serve,

with no extra costs.

What kind of costs, do you ask?

Well, on top of a deposit that can be a month or two's rent,

many non-UR rental apartments will charge for things like

key money, which is a kind of thank you money

to the property owner that costs a month's rent,

renewal money, which can be a month's rent

every couple of years, and a guarantor fee,

which can be half a month's rent.

And let's not forget the realtor agent's fee as well,

which would be another month's rent.

Even if you can come up with all that,

it still depends on if the owner

or management company likes you,

as I showcased in my video about why foreigners

have difficulty renting in Japan.

With UR, you only pay that refundable deposit;

there's no other fees.

This is due in large part to UR

being a semi-governmental agency

that has set up a fair system in place.

This means that their main criteria for getting in

is if you can afford to pay the rent,

which requires you to prove your income

and meet the minimum income thresholds.

Unlike social housing, where you can't make too much money

or else you don't qualify, it's the opposite.

For the lowest rents, you need to have an income

that's four times the cost.

As rent gets more expensive,

the income test is less stringent,

until you reach a cap of 400 thousand yen a month.

Once you make more than that amount a month,

you can rent anything UR has to offer.

UR housing is definitely not for low income people,

but I think it can be a solid option for people

in the middle class.

For my family, when we first moved to Japan

we did consider UR housing,

but there were alternative affordable options

in the area we were looking at that we ended up choosing.

But for other foreigners living in Japan

who don't have a fluently speaking Japanese spouse

like I did, UR can be one of the only solid options

for a middle income family.

The problem is that in the big cities,

there's not a lot of UR housing

and the spaces can be competitive,

with popular places gone the day they come up for rent.

This is because nationwide, there's only about

700 thousand UR units,

which account for about one and a half percent

of the 52 million households in Japan.

Hey, welcome to me editing.

I realized after watching this over and over

that I wasn't clear that I was talking about

social housing from this point onwards.

So here's me telling you,

all stats and images you will see,

is about low income or social housing,

not middle income or market housing, okay.

What about that low income social housing

I was talking about?

They do have many more units,

2.16 million in fact,

but it's so competitive that a lottery system is in place.

The latest numbers from 2014

gave a one in six chance of getting a spot,

but in Greater Tokyo, it was 1 in 16.

The chances of not getting in is trending down though,

so that seems like positive news.

When I first started making this video,

I had mistakenly thought that there were

a lot of new Danchi being built.

However, what I was mostly witnessing

was the rebuilding of old units.

So while 17 thousand units were built in 2016,

most of them were rebuilds, not new construction.

The truth is that since the building peak

in the early 1970's,

Danchi construction has been on the decline.

And nowadays, the Japanese population is following suit.

On that happy note, thanks for watching,

see you next time, bye.

What is market housing, social housing,

or just public housing in general like where you're from?

(music)

Hey again, so there was this chunk

right in the middle of the video that you didn't see

because I cut it.

It was all about the experimental design

that UR was testing.

And the reason I cut it

is because I didn't want you to think

that this was the average housing.

It was just experimental stuff.

However, it's the end of the video

and what's the harm in showing you

the kind of neat stuff they were working on?

Although this was about like 20 years old or so,

so it's not necessarily cutting edge.

But, still neat I thought.

So check it out.

What really struck me while getting the tour

around the museum was that the agency

wasn't simply trying to build functional housing,

but they were trying to create better living environments.

One such environment they were trying to improve

was the sound environment.

Unfortunately, I really mucked up the audio recording,

as I had a wireless mic on the presenter at all times.

So when she was on the floor above dropping things...

(object dropping)

I could clearly hear everything.

What she was showing was how they test

different materials and designs

to minimize sound transmission.

The door has rubber around the edge, so it's sealed tightly.

There are alternating horizontal slats called louver,

so the sound doesn't go through, but the air can.

So compared to a regular door the sound proofing is good.

What I was shown next was UR's experimental designs,

which are about 20 years old if I remember correctly.

This was a unit designed to be barrier free,

for those in a wheelchair.

We named this kitchen system a cockpit kitchen

So like a cockpit in an airplane.

It's designed so that you can reach everything while sitting down.

The edge of the counter is easy to grab and you can use it to move around in a wheelchair.

Your legs can fit perfectly under the sink and it's easy to wash dishes.

The water is turned off right now, but normally when you'd push the button it'd come out.

The counter is high, so on this side

and on the other side there are small working counters.

So you can easily bring the cutting board on the side you prefer,

and prepare your food.

This kitchen is actually installed in Shinjuku Comfort Garden in Kawadacho.

In that housing complex they have 17 experimental units.

And as far as I know,

it was the only ever that one building

that these special units were built in.

In this three tatami mat room,

in the daytime, you can use this as a chair or bench, drink tea,

and chat (with company).

At night you can open this and take a bath.

And this has a wooden cover as well,

that reveals a toilet when you open it.

So this apartment is designed as a liveable space.

These units over here are part of

a different project called KSI.

S stands for skeleton,

meaning that they're providing a shell for the I,

which is the infill, or the interior.

Basically, it's a design that allows the building

to be constructed in a uniform way,

while still giving architects the freedom

to customize the interior the way they like,

placing interior walls, kitchens, and bathrooms

in any manner they choose.

One example of the tech they built to accomplish this

is this flat wiring for lighting above,

that can be hidden under wallpaper.

Another aspect is the piping and wiring,

which can easily be routed around the subfloor.

Unlike regular pipes which need slopes

to move their contents,

these ones can do the job while flat,

which allows for more freedom in design choices.

All the utilities can be managed

from the exterior of each unit,

something that is true of units I see

in modern Japanese buildings today as well.

This unit is still KSI,

but since they were experimenting with different things

you could do with the design,

it looks drastically different from the previous one.

The whole idea of KSI was that the buildings

can be designed for multi-use,

and cater to people like single seniors,

to people with disabilities, to families.

So many people can sit here, like when you have a party.

All right, so this is really the end, bye-bye!