Good info. Our experience designing and building a custom home is pretty much what Alex talks about. Having looked at many pre-owned and new open houses, the average house in Japan is indeed built of low quality materials and terrible design, yet our custom house with triple pane windows, large open rooms, big solar system etc... is significantly less expensive than we would have had to pay in the U.S.

@jryanp

2 ай бұрын

Did you have to import all that or is there a local supplier of things like triple pane?

@elementalfitnesslab

2 ай бұрын

Local. I used Hebel Haus and it is a standard option.@@jryanp

@karensurgery3845

2 ай бұрын

What company did you use? If you don't mind sharing

@elementalfitnesslab

2 ай бұрын

Hebel Haus @@karensurgery3845

Another reason for the extremely cheapo building materials is that houses aren't investment tools for families the way they are in North America. There just isn't that much crazy demand to grab a detached home ASAP since rents are reasonable and it's socially acceptable for married couples to move in with elderly parents. Because of that there's no guarantee that the house is going to increase in value 30 years after you buy it, nor that you'll be able to use mortgage refinancing and home equity lines of credit to use your house like a credit card. Homes really are just somewhere to plant your family's butts down, and if it's just an expense then you're going to want to make it as cheap as possible.

@Himeyasha

2 ай бұрын

They decrease in value when they age. My uncle had a babyboomer house rebuilt in the 70s, he could spend 200K to renovate it and it'd still be a tear down, or he could rebuild for like 300K and he could get something for it.

@fffwe3876

2 ай бұрын

buildings in japan are always "temporary" thing. they are not expected to last no more than 30-40 years. and taxed accordingly. there are not much reason(and incentive ) to keep old house and building for long time. the japanese government promote new building because newer building much more earthquake and fire resistant.

@creestee08

2 ай бұрын

​@@fffwe3876 max is 30

@coleball6001

2 ай бұрын

All Buildings are largely "temporary". That's how we thought of buildings for thousands of years. The Colosseum for example was at various times an arena, a theater, a church, cemetary, an apartment/workshops, a castle, and a quarry. Nowadays in the United States, we consider everything to be somehow permanent and demand that even how we use buildings to be permanent. You have a house? You want to convert it to a shop? well fuck you. We have a shit ton of unused office space since covid but, we can't convert them to apartments because they are zoned for office space. The Real Estate market in the US is weirdly like a planned market, everything is directed by the municipal government. @@fffwe3876

@katarzynazdrojewska4233

2 ай бұрын

Funny fact: in Europe we view US houses as "flimsy buildings made out of carton" x) Talk about different perspectives! :D

Love Alex´s videos. He needs to make more of them, I have already watched them over and over!

On the bathroom situation- for the Americans out there, he means one bath/shower, not one toilet. The typical Japanese single family house built these days are two story, with 3 bedrooms, 2 toilets and one bathtub/shower. The bathtub/shower is almost always downstairs, with a separate toilet room on each floor.

@busti4552

2 ай бұрын

What's so bad about just having one bathroom tho?

@parasitius

2 ай бұрын

There's already easy professional terminology to explain this. A half-bath is one with only a toilet and sink. So it's usually like "2 and a half bathrooms" in listings. Not sure why he didn't just say that

@parasitius

2 ай бұрын

​@@busti4552 Have you never lived with a female, even your own mother? Sure men without OCD(not my brother) can shower, shit, and brush their teeth in 15 minutes. But imagine you need to BE somewhere and you have to wait for your mom and your wife to shower and all for 1 hour each first. Good luck not going insane after a few months of that brah!!

@greeniris17

2 ай бұрын

@@parasitius I think because most often in Japan, the bath is not in the same room as the toilet

@busti4552

2 ай бұрын

@@parasitius I am from Germany and here most rental flats have a single bathroom that combines shower, sink, toilet and laundry into one room. I never saw it as an issue. I can hold my pee for an hour or so if it is necessary.

Loved the interview, seen so many of his videos and guest experiences. So glad to hear a deeper perspective.

absolutely fascinating!!! Alex is great!

Such an informative and interesting show. Love the glimpse into a completely different life experience.

Great talk here once again on a booming topic! Sasuga toby and the unpacking Japan crew- keep up the good work!

This was excellent, thanking the KZread algorithm for the recommendation :)

@unpackingjapan

2 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! Please consider subscribing 😄

VERY IMPORTANT VIDEO !!! Thanks both for the info and all the best in life and business !!!

@unpackingjapan

2 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!! -editor

I’m moving closer to the centre of Tokyo now and choosing a rental so this is why the algorithm recommended this video. Very nice and interesting. 20 years in Japan for me (mostly not by choice 🤪- my kids are here etc) but making do and making the best of it. You are right, the best thing about Japan is how everything kind of works.

@unpackingjapan

2 ай бұрын

Hope you find somewhere nice!! : D -editor

Very interesting and informative

YT rec strikes again. Insta-sub for the channel. Interesting things about zoning in JPN. I vaguely remember reading about the residential zoning a few years back, but that was a great refresher. interesting things about rehab permitting and such. I was looking at housing in TYO and found it *somewhat reasonable* outside central TYO. Even Sapporo was fairly affordable.

You had me at "Freedom Units." 🤣🤣🤣 Great podcast! Thank you for this!

Japanese real estate is very reasonable. I own 13 houses here and enjoy doing DIY etc.

4:36 I'm glad TP clarified that, mainly because i wasn't 100% sure myself even after reading a few things on it. Already licensed in my state, but have been looking into the possibility of selling property in Japan.

@abcdedfg8340

3 ай бұрын

You plan to sell only to those who plan to live there full time? I don't think japanese want foreign owners or investors pricing them out of their communities.

Great point from Alex bringing up Mori, the new Azabudai Hills is their flagship area, and the rent for the apartment their is like 2-3x average monthly income of a normal Japanese, and then when I see the interior it's such a disappointment.

Great video, lots of useful information for anyone interest how real estate in Japan works.

Been doing my research on Japanese real estate for some time now. It's just such a unique market - hard for me to wrap my head around. This was a really great listen, by the way! Thanks for offering up your insight into housing in Japan.

@unpackingjapan

2 ай бұрын

Alex is such a great speaker : D -editor

What makes Japan cheap, especially for people that qualify for a bank loan... the interest rates. You can get loans at 0.15%.... basically free money. An expensive home loan would be 0.75%. I've lived and worked in Japan since 1982.... even with rates as low as they are... buying property in Japan is not a good investment. When you buy a property in Japan... it should be about a place to live and enjoy life, not about making money off of it, because you will not.

@abcdedfg8340

3 ай бұрын

And if enough foreign investors try to profit and price out locals, they would probably find it much easier to ban foreign ownership. If real estate investors want to abuse Japanese hospitality, and price out locals, do not expect a good result.

@itsnick37

2 ай бұрын

It’s really cheap there too, I haven’t looked in like middle of Tokyo or anything like that but anywhere else it’s cheap. Transit all over the place not like that in USA. Everyone here is greedy, every business the cost of living is terrible here I want out so bad. Also Japanese culture and standards is pretty much as good as it gets, America has none. Sucks you really can’t live there long term or hard to do but even a few months at a time I would be happy, rent is so cheap better off just doing that and going to Indonesia or something similar rest of the time. Western countries are dying and waste of money and to much stress everyone should leave, no one should tell you where you can live and borders really shouldn’t be a thing but that’s another discussion. People who DESERVE to move and can contribute and be a good citizen to a foreign country should be allowed to live there, not like USA getting flooded that’s different there is no plan here for most of these people this country will collapse. But a place like Japan needs people younger people they shouldn’t be so strict, let foreigners buy up the akitas only can help, bring foreign money in I don’t get the stubborness of certain countries but Japan is well run and priced good (even to cheap I argue) so I can’t criticize but aging population needs to be addressed.

@sherlockhomes9919

Ай бұрын

I think people commenting don't realize that buying a house in japan for renting investment is not targetted at locals. You target tourists that would pay $200 a night. Easy money.

@Koushi82

6 күн бұрын

@@abcdedfg8340 yes we need this all over the world. I fully support this.

@sherlockhomes9919

4 күн бұрын

Recent rise in crime for these cheap houses in rural areas. Vietnamese criminals have been ransacking these houses and even tieing up elderly residents. It's not safe to buy rural houses in japan.

This interview was well structured by the host. The interview itself was insightful. Well done.

@unpackingjapan

3 күн бұрын

So glad you enjoyed it!

key money - most apartments around me (Chicago) have gotten rid of security deposits and only have a move in fee (non-refundable)

Interesting balcony. I mean video. Tokyo is such an interesting restaurant. I mean city. The speaker is very Alex. I mean articulate.

Japan does have HOAs in mansion buildings. They are typically called maintenance fees, and are used to employ building & cleaning staff. For single family homes, many newer neighborhoods have smaller annual fees called which are managed by volunteers in the community, called “Hancho groups”. They are usually optional, but most people participate for the good of the neighborhood.

@Reanimator999

2 ай бұрын

Too bad HOA in the US is getting terrible reps for forcing people to sign up and not providng good service.

Alex is a pretty cool guy, amazing people skills

tokyoportfolio is a fun channel

@unpackingjapan

2 ай бұрын

he's great

What an interesting name for a company. For those that don't know "Blackships" is what the Japanese called American gunboats that forced Japan to open her boarders to trade after 250 years of isolation. This was back in 1865~67. Perhaps Blackship realty will force Japan to be more open to renting to foreigners.

@_KondoIsami_

2 ай бұрын

When you know the history of it, it's a horrible name. The blackships forced Japan to open up, and then Europeans and Americans forced Japan to accept foreigner gold at 3x the rate of Japanese gold, it destroyed the Japanese economy, it evolved into hate towards foreigners and a civil war that made the economy even worse. The solution was to return power to the emperor and to build a unified and modern military to create a strong empire so foreigners would no longer be able to coerce Japan, this mindset can be traced up to the Japanese involvement in WWII when the US blocked oil to Japan to try stop Japanese expansion by making Japan weaker which then led them to attack Pearl Harbor. If anything the name just makes me question if the goals of the company benefit the country.

@abcdedfg8340

2 ай бұрын

I think you forgot the unequal treaties that came after. Japan spent decades developing to get rid of them and be recognized as a respected nation in their own right. If japan is going to open up to more foreigner renters and working residents, it will probably do it on its own terms. Sorry to burst your bubble.

@gagamba9198

2 ай бұрын

The word 黒船 (blackship) was created in the 16th century upon the arrival of the first Portuguese vessel. The ships' hulls had been painted with pitch (similar to tar) for water proofing and to resist wood worm.

@niceboke

2 ай бұрын

@@abcdedfg8340no you didn’t burst my bubble😂.

@niceboke

2 ай бұрын

@@gagamba9198 didn’t know that! I guess people just called things the obvious way.

I think the size of homes in Japan is similiar to the size of homes in a lot of places in Europe like Spain. Looking at the numbers in Spanish large cities about 50% of homes are 60-90m2, 25% are smaller than 60m2 and 25% are bigger than 90m2. Housing used to be ridiculously cheap before people from other countries started moving there by the thousands from places like the UK and USA as well as overseas from Latin America.

The multiple bathrooms thing surprised me mainly because it isn't a luxury Algosphere/Western thing. I was living in a $300/month apartment in Colombia with only 1 bedroom yet there is actually two full bathrooms so that you have one for house visitors. So even in the 3rd world.

yeah even my friend who is part Japanese and has relatives who still live in Japan had a hard time getting an apartment. In the end his aunt whose is a Japanese citizen had to vouch for him to secure an apartment. Admittedly he was trying to avoid the "foreigner" apartments.

@57:47 yes you can negotiate. The response maybe a no but with many akiya families want them gone to avoid taxes. Best example I've seen was saying up front you only have XXX JPY and that's it. Seller can decide.

Impressive video. Keep at it. Japanese real estate videos is un-tapped content on youtube (Tokyo Portfolio only does luxury property).

Is the mentality of not listing or making properties visible to the wider public a client led thing or something that RE Agents initiate so they can hold onto stock? Also, what are some of the reasons why people don't want full access to a market whereby they benefit from more bidding or potential buyers taking an interest in their property?

Think Alex was pretty much spot on with everything here. We built our own place - planning took about 6 months and then they had it built in 4. Ours is double glazed throughout with the entire roof as a roof balcony - we have an outdoor sofa, tables and BBQ up there! Building is superbly put together, you can't fault any of it, but yes, the quality of a lot of the fittings is pretty average, even though for most of it we specified the higher end stuff on offer. Considering its a three story building that had to meet the top level fire safety requirements and also needed extra foundations because of risk of land liquefaction, mass damper, and heavy steel construction from one of the top (mainstream) house builders, it really wasn't all that expensive and the whole process of designing everything exactly how we wanted it went like clockwork. Maybe I was lucky, but I never had any problems with being refused rentals because I was a foreigner here - the estate agents would check, but it was always OK.

Bubble wrap makes for cheap window insulation. Just spray some water and will stick to the window. You want the bubble side against the glass. Probably a good solution if you're stuck with single pane windows.

Be careful when talking about "one bedroom" in the Japanese context. There's 1R, 1K, 1DK, 1LDK that are all technically "one bedroom" apartment.

@unpackingjapan

3 ай бұрын

true!

Excellent interview! Can you describe in some more detail how you secured financing for your house in Osaka?! Curious what bank it was, what exactly the bank was looking for to approve a mortgage for a nonresident foreigner, how much the house cost?

@unpackingjapan

3 ай бұрын

Hi there, thanks for the question. I got my loan through Shinsei Bank. You can find all the details to their loan requirements here: www.sbishinseibank.co.jp/english/housing/ Regarding the amount they can loan you, it is based on your previous year's income, and basically they just have a chart that they look at: you earn X you can get Y. They were actually quite helpful throughout the process, and it overall went very smoothly. :) Tobi

31:00 Are they behind Kamurocho Hills?

There is no natural housing shortage in the USA. Its all manufactured by zoning laws, parking requirements, minimum lot sizes, set backs, height restrictions, HOAs, permitting processes, growth boundaries, huge car based infrastructure projects, Federal protected lands, etc etc etc.

@HairyPixels

2 ай бұрын

You forgot immigration which is a government policy. You can never build enough houses if you're inviting in the world.

@Basta11

2 ай бұрын

​@@HairyPixels Like Dubai. Yeah. Lots of homeless immigrants there. Not.

@HairyPixels

2 ай бұрын

@@Basta11 US takes more than 1 million immigrants per year plus illegal immigration. That puts continual pressure on housing. How is that hard to understand?

@Basta11

2 ай бұрын

@@HairyPixels more housing is easy to make. These immigrants work hard and earn. Plenty of money to be made providing for their needs. The difficult part is the politics. Again, all the government regulations aimed to limit housing. Remove those, and you’ll have a construction boom, using labor from those immigrants.

@user-pn8dq6vt4s

2 ай бұрын

@@Basta111 in 10 people in the US are illegal - over 35 million people. The US is in total collapse but it’s not yet being broadly acknowledged.

time to move to japan!

面白い動画です。 本当にたくさんのことを学びました

As a foreign owner of property in Japan, this interests me.

Thank you both for the conversation. Was just wondering, if you buy property is there any way to obtain a VISA so that you can live extended periods of time? Or is it just 60-90 days travel visa ... fly back home, then eventually go again? Cheers!

@unpackingjapan

2 ай бұрын

As far as I know, no visa tied to purchasing property, but Alex talks about a digital nomad visa towards the end of the interview! -editor

While land value in cities is still high, the building depreciates a lot. The property cost to land value ratio is much wider here

Nice man bun. I used to have one

@unpackingjapan

3 ай бұрын

Thanks 😁🙏

Thanks for posting, good stuff. I had the same experience as Alex. Had been to 35 countries outside my native US and only Japan really hooked me. I now have a Japanese wife and plan on moving there.

1:07:59 sponcer your own visa?

We were invited to a New Year’s Day celebration/ party at a friend’s parents older build Japanese house in Fukuoka this year and I was struck by how cold it was inside. The other thing that bothered me was the strong smell of kerosene coming from multiple space heaters.Apparently electricity is super expensive so it’s very common to heat using oil . Reminded me of our oil heaters before my mum had central heating installed when I lived in the uk . We ended up in the kitchen all 20 of us , so it wasn’t too bad in there but it was like being outside and apparently we were experiencing a bit of a heat wave this year in Japan . I was warned how cold it gets in December January but it wasn’t. It did get a lot colder the day we left and it was snowing in Tokyo for weeks.

@unpackingjapan

9 күн бұрын

When I worked in a middle school, in the winter they would heat the staff room using 2 or 3 kerosene space heaters. So we didn't suffocate from the gas emissions we'd have a couple windows open for ventilation. Couldn't have been the most eco friendly system -editor

Hmm...I thought it was very much a digital nomad visa. I checked out the requirements and I meet them all (I work a job that is completely remote for a company foreign of Japan and make what is greater than the current equivalent requirement of like $68k/annually. They even allow families to move there with a single person meeting that visa requirement. I think you still have to have private insurance (this makes sense as it's not a permanent residency visa), and the term of the visa is up to 6 months, which is more than any tourist visa. Otherwise, this was a very interesting video and the 1 million yen deposit being carried around in an Ultron lunch pail was very funny (at least, that's how I envision it). I'm also glad they went over the akiya's. It would be interesting to hear his take on areas in TYO that aren't Shibuya, Shinjuku, Meguro, Ginza, Shinagawa, etc... Great video, thank you!

i think the reason almost all japanese houses have 1 bath and its almost always on the ground floor is because for many years they used to have wood fired bath tub water heaters. I've been shopping for a house in osaka for over a year and have seen a lot of house listings and its rare to have even a toilet on the floor where the bedrooms are. This is a major pet peeve of mine because in the middle of the night you have to navigate the trecherously steep stairs half asleep to use the toilet. staircases in 3 story houses are the most hideous things i've ever seen in a house. They remind me of the stairs in the old kyoto temples. They're more like a fixed ladder

I think people commenting don't realize that buying a house in japan for renting investment is not targetted at locals. You target tourists that would pay $200 a night. Easy money.

Nice talk, I enjoyed the part about Japanese people not liking negotiating prices. It made me laugh. Whenever I buy anything expensive in Japan, I usually ask "Are their any special offers going on this item? (hint hint)" ... I've had mixed success with this.

In Thailand, it's factory, hotel, condos, cafe, optician shop, houses with porch all in 1 alley.

@abcdedfg8340

3 ай бұрын

Except Thailand doesn't allow foreign ownership. Japan will likely do the same if too many foreigners think they can make a profit by pricing locals out of their own neighborhoods. Just my opinion. But if one plans to live there and raise a family, okay. But if one just wants to speculate on their property, please stay away from japanese real estate. Its a nice country, don't mess it up by driving up their living costs over wages.

@gagamba9198

2 ай бұрын

Who are the lucky ones who live beside the abattoirs?

I worked in relocations in Japan. To understand "key money", you need to take the whole package into consideration: damage deposit, anticipated rent across the entire tenancy, 'key money', contract fees and contract renewal fees. Bottom line, the landlord wants a certain amount of money. For a good prospective tenant, monthly rent can be reduced by the amount of the key money. For someone who may break contract and leave early, they want to get that certain amount of money so they will hedge by creating/increasing the key money. And there a lot of "spacious" 21m2 (about 225 square feet) apartments that balance out the high-end places to get the 65m2 average size. At 5'11", sometimes you can touch opposite walls just by reaching out. WiFi, cable TV, central heating, and dual-pane windows are not a given, you need to check to make sure they are there if they're deal-breakers for you.

@MNkno

2 ай бұрын

And not putting money into housing... you have to factor in the earthquakes. There are building codes for earthquake resilience, but a real big one and everyone's going to be wiped out... so don't put too much of your assets into your house.

HoAs definetely exist. Might just be a countryside thing though. I moved to the outskirts of Nikko and a couple of days after moving in I had the business card of the HoA president laying in my mail box.

I live in Tokyo and rent eats up 50% of my net salary, for 43 sqm. I'm sure there are cheaper places, but its not "incredibly cheap" if you ask me.

@katarzynazdrojewska4233

2 ай бұрын

I moved out from Warsaw, cause it was eating 3/4 of my salary for 34m2 and was threating to grab 4/5 with the inflation spike - I am earning somewhere between the median and the average wage depending on the exact moment so it was a shocker... Tokyo doesn't sound "cheap", but it definitely sounds a little more manageable for an average corporate worker - so it has me interested, even if the cost would be the same nominally, but in perspective... ;)

i wish we allowed density and public transit like japan does

@jimbojimbo6873

3 ай бұрын

Japanese are homogenous in race, ethnicity and culture. It would be borderline impossible with the people from US to do that, the natural animal instinct in the population there just doesn’t land the same way

@abcdedfg8340

3 ай бұрын

@@jimbojimbo6873That and I don't think they would have the slightest hesitation to ban foreign ownership of homes if they started to price out local residents or speculate on property markets in a way that hurt locals.

@coenharoldsen9922

2 ай бұрын

People always talk about how great Japanese public transit is. After visiting what makes Japanese public so good compared with say Europe or even some US cities is that it is filled with Japanese people. So no one doing pullups on the train, no one singing rudely, no one shitting on the floor while claiming to be the reincarnation of Jesus the Christ. Like you see and would see in the US.

@gagamba9198

2 ай бұрын

I reckon people in Tokyo would love to have Japanese population density. Japan is 340 people per square kilometre but Tokyo is about 20 times that.

Remimnds me of what happen in Portugal when they had a glut of empty houses and condos and the govt promoted residency for foreigners to buy it, but it eventually causes housing shortages and rent spirial upward so Portugees protest. So dont expect smooth sailing to own a foreingn homes since govt can change the tax rule anytime.

@abcdedfg8340

2 ай бұрын

I know some people from that general area. One of them confirmed foreign investors made portugal unaffordable for many locals. Japan is an island nation and its government is very strict on immigration. At any moment they could change the rules if citizens started complaining. Just what i read.

Ohh... So the seller's agents could hide information from the buyer, unless the buyer goes to the house & checks it first himself/herself. But with seller's agent/s, buyer won't be able to see the body language of the seller to know if he/she is shifty about certain matters, or what kind of person the seller is.

can i get a mortgage? or do i have to pay cash in Japan? is it possible to find a property (decent shape for under 150K USD) thanks

@unpackingjapan

16 күн бұрын

Long term foreign residents who have a full-time job at a Japanese company can get a loan from Japanese banks, but there are many rules and checks that they will need to put you through before they give you the money. It is possible, but not easy.

0:13 the lead-in is incomprehensible: "Japan in the 1970s was in 2000s, and it is still in 2000s these days . . ."

I just want to put out there, you're starting to see more and more "non-refundable security deposits" in big cities in the US, at least here in Chicago. I think it's coming up with bigger companies buying up a whole bunch of inventory, and they are like, "We're not even going to pretend we're giving you back any of this money, if you want to live on this street/in this neighborhood, you'll pay it." And it sucks.

I think it was not mentioned but in regards to why the buildings are boring, or why having small spaces in the big cities is okay for japanese people, another reason I've read and heard is that they focus more on the practical side of the space, mostly because 1. The common salary person's working hours in japan are based on basically living most of your day outside your house and only coming home to sleep, and/or 2. the cities are so active and convinient 24/7 that you don't need amenities in your house because the city can provide it. Not sure if that is 100% true or cover most of the cases, but made sense to me, would like to see how true it is.

I was hoping he was going to discuss why home values decrease in Japan. I assume it’s due to the cheap materials?

If there was more than one bathroom it would be even colder in the winter to have 2 windows open all the time 🥶🥶🥶🥶

49:09 In Hongkong gibt es wohl nur lease-Hold. Also man besitzt das Gebäude aber das Land ist nur gepachtet.

hmmm, now thinking about building a crazy house in japan

@unpackingjapan

3 ай бұрын

What would be a crazy house? 🤔

@sonicase

3 ай бұрын

@@unpackingjapan i mean, like more of a uniquely architecturally designed house

@pitthepig

3 ай бұрын

​@@sonicase there's a youtuber that actually had his own house build for him, quite a project, although not in Tokyo: kzread.info/dash/bejne/g5WemrpsoNvefrA.htmlsi=9f_cCKK4n4ysv5Vx

Meanwhile in germany, where there is a significant shortage in housing, the number of zoning laws & bureaucracy keeps increasing more and more. I wounder if there is a connection...nah...there can't be one. Right? :D

@JakeAoTK

2 ай бұрын

In the US zoning laws allow for NIMBY’s to pretty much prevent new development to protect housing values. As a result most new housing has to be “luxury” to even get approved. Only one of the issues though.

The younger version of Mr. Burns 😂

The key money really isn't a big deal if you just consider it as part of the rent and add it to your budget

@unpackingjapan

2 ай бұрын

It feels like a double agency fee

Japan is the safest country I have ever been to, very similar to Taiwan, almost no crime. At Starbucks in BANGKOK college students leave their laptops and wander around the mall and return 15 minutes later… and nobody took it.

@forstuffjust7735

3 ай бұрын

Until nature decides to have some fun

@abcdedfg8340

3 ай бұрын

Then dont buy propety there unless you want to live there is my advice. They dont need land values being artificially inflated by real estate investors and pushing people into crime to make ends meet. Just my opinion.

@WillmobilePlus

2 ай бұрын

I never understood this idea that people stealing laptops at coffee shops is assumed to be "common" in the U.S. It really isnt.

@ragnarlothbrok2808

2 ай бұрын

I wonder why that is...

@abcdedfg8340

2 ай бұрын

Reason is pretty obvious to me. Strict on crime and living costs are affordable for locals. But i would never leave my valuables out in any city with a housing crisis, too many desperate people who are struggling to make ends meet.

I wonder if a lot of foreigners buy for holiday homes or small airbnb type business. I've heard there isn't much value so not really an investment but interesting none the less. I am not all the way through the podcast yet so I don't know if this gets mentioned or I missed it.

@unpackingjapan

2 ай бұрын

Some really rich people have vacation homes here. I think Life Where I'm From recently did a video on this -editor

@abcdedfg8340

2 ай бұрын

Please do not exploit their hospitality, and help raise their living costs that could lead to other problems. There are actual foreigners who want to live there and raise a family and work, please do not ruin it for them.

@skullfullofbats

2 ай бұрын

@@abcdedfg8340 I have no intention to. I'm just curious on the subject. This is already being done by multiple foreigners and they have no laws in place to stop this and with a dwindling population the amount of property is only going to increase with less Japanese to purchase.

@abcdedfg8340

2 ай бұрын

@@skullfullofbats I suspect if it becomes a problem, it will not be hard for them to begin restricting foreign ownership of property. I just hope that enough foreigners respect that country so that the bad apples dont ruin it for everyone else.

Freedom Units baby!. Base 12 is the best. Better fractions. :)

"freedom unit" LMAO

Oh. And great video! Absolutely Zero Weeaboo!

@unpackingjapan

2 ай бұрын

Haha, thanks

RIP Nakagin Capsule Tower.

hard to judge the build quality fully, but Japanese places usually have a lack of air tightness (think insulation not covered up fully). Even with dual pane windows, you'll have aluminum frames which will basically cancel out any gains you get from double pane. Really disappointing.

speaking of safety, the same in Taiwan... you can leave your valuables in a public place in Taipei and it will still be there or reported to a police station's lost and found. the people in Taiwan are also more open minded, friendly, helpful, etc.. with the polite face like forced by Japan because of societal pressure and not "real"..

Thanks for the info. Can't say I like the guy. Typical real estate or car sales person.

Haven't watched the video yet, but would the fact that private companies in the US are buying houses (the ones first-time home buyers used to buy) be a fundamental reason houses are so expensive here?

@noseboop4354

2 ай бұрын

Maybe not fundamental, but it is certainly a contributing factor. A lot of their money comes from pension funds... you might be outbid by your parent's retirement plan.

@peterbedford2610

2 ай бұрын

Corporate ownership of houses in the US is barely 1%.

@plainvanillaguy

22 сағат бұрын

That and too much immigration.

I would just like a place in the countryside

@unpackingjapan

3 ай бұрын

It might be relatively easy, and cheap. 🤔

@CandycaneBeyond

3 ай бұрын

The hard part is the Visa

@abcdedfg8340

3 ай бұрын

​@@CandycaneBeyondNewsflash for you. Japanese people don't want mass immigration or too many real estate investors it seems. They probably like being able to afford to live in their own communities. If you want to buy and live there and raise a family, okay. But if you want to be an foreign owner pricing out locals, then don't come to Japan for the purpose of buying a house.

@abcdedfg8340

3 ай бұрын

@@CandycaneBeyondYeah, Japan seems to want people who actually want to live there. Not just some investors or real estate speculators who may price out locals. Not saying you are one, just saying, they can be quite firm if they have to be. They have a very cohesive society, they seem to want to preserve it.

dude tells the world his dentist has an Aston Martin DB5 (most likely, given the approximate year of the vehicle and it's collector notoriety) chilling in his house, on the second floor next to a glass wall using a garage elevator. Yes, that dentist knows exactly what he has in that it's a work of automotive art that you can also happen to drive about. I wonder if his dentist is like, "bruv...why you spilling my sh*t all over the internet??"

@Picasso_Picante92

2 ай бұрын

Japan has a glut of dentist and they don't make that much money. His friend either was born into money or owns a chain of dental clinics.

if I came into some money - and I'm talking at least 6 figures large - I would start a strawberry and vegetable farm in Japan and hire a crew of full time employees. Build on site tiny housing and/or barracks along with Male and Female bath houses so they could stay there overnight if they needed to, or even live there.

@susie2251

2 ай бұрын

Where you going to get those employees? Japan has a labor shortage and that sounds like a terrible job and life, living on site in barracks.

@nobodynothing00000

2 ай бұрын

@@susie2251 who the fuck asked you

@abcdedfg8340

2 ай бұрын

I respect that. You actually want to contribute to their economy and generate jobs. This is what japan needs, not some speculators or airbnb operators who will just cause the same housing crisis North america is facing. Just my opinion.

no on steals stuff in Korea too lol

I find the study of Japan very interesting as they have been in a steady population decline for years. And, this is something facing many countries. How has their standard of living been affected?

Freedom Units!!!

NaIce

The guest looks like Leonardo Dicaprio.

@unpackingjapan

3 ай бұрын

He really does 😅

@TokyoPortfolio

3 ай бұрын

I'll take that

@heythave

3 ай бұрын

@@TokyoPortfolioAlex, I just saw this interview. I am looking to rent in Japan for six months at a time. Do you have connection with other realtors that handles lower priced rentals? Or, do you have a section in your company that deals with non high end rentals?

@Ditronus.

2 ай бұрын

I was thinking Quentin Tarantino.

I lived in Japan for 17 years. Wish I had known the difference between apa-to and mansion!

Its almost as if U.S. regulations for single-family zoning are keeping our housing prices insane.

@gagamba9198

2 ай бұрын

_Relative to income_ America's property prices aren't insane. Property price per m2 to income % it's one of the developed world's most affordable. The affordability ratio is calculated by dividing the average property price per square metre by the average _disposable_ household income. The most expensive is South Korea at 59.4%. Japan is 20.4%. France 16.5%. Australia is 16.2%. Germany at 15.3%. Canada 13.6%. Italy 10.7%. And the US is 6.3%. The US is more affordable than Mexico. Only Turkey is cheaper at 4%. US housing size in square feet has almost doubled since the 1950s. This hasn't in most other countries. You have to pay for those extra materials and labour. New suburban housing after WWII was about 1000 sq ft. New suburban housing today outside the growth cities like Atlanta is well above 2000 sq ft. The median size of new homes was 2,412 square feet in 2018. And the quality of materials used is better. Less linoleum and more tile, stone, and wood. More bathrooms. More bedrooms. Larger garages. And you've lost the draw of cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Gary, Green Bay, Cincinnati, Baltimore, St Lous, and Pittsburg. Even Chicago is losing population over the years. Boom cities like San Francisco have quite strict housing regulations to protect the historic character, and building new structures to comply with earthquake zoning adds expense - about 15% extra for base isolation of a building 7 storeys high. And the city squeezes the developer to set aside x% for low income. That means the wealthy pick up that cost.

TIME TO LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND BOYS

55:08 oh, it's Osaka, it's so dangerous. Tennōji on the worst day is still waaaaaaay safer than most so called safe cities in the US on their BEST DAY. Honestly, and I am going to catch flame for this but, in Japan, it's the foreigners you generally have to be careful around because their mindset in not Japanese. There, I said it and FYI, I'm NOT Japanese.

@unpackingjapan

16 күн бұрын

Even the most "dangerous" places in Japan are pretty safe comapred to almost anywhere else in the world. In Japan the worst case scenario - they migh shout at you some nonsense or push you out of the way. Violent crime rates in Japan are very close to zero.

Wish it was easier to move there self-employed 🥺

@unpackingjapan

3 ай бұрын

There's actually a digital nomad visa being introduced! He talks about this at the end -editor

@slothsarecool

3 ай бұрын

@@unpackingjapanI saw that recently! But from what I understand this wouldn’t allow you to become a citizen long-term

@unpackingjapan

3 ай бұрын

@@slothsarecool Baby steps!😅

@ai-no-unmei

3 ай бұрын

I love the baby steps, but the uncertainty in the long run would kill me. Especially if buying a house, since you want that to be long run right?@@unpackingjapan

@abcdedfg8340

3 ай бұрын

Maybe you should stay there. Don't buy unless you plan to stay. The locals deserve affordable housing and to be able to stay with their communities.

Thank you for this wonderful video! Sooooo interesting!! Japan has too little livable land that luxurious spacious housing has been for only VERY limited people - socially high category families like emperor relatives or super rich founders of globally famous companies, I think. (Or farmers in rural areas.) I welcome non native Japanese people move/invest to Tokyo and build gigantic high quality houses! Let Japanese people, who cannot or do not wish to afford the rent, move out to country sides! Rural areas are desparate to have people move in! Capital cities then would probably become 'more like the capital cities' and high rents in Tokyo would hopefully raise all other incomes and economical contradictions adjust to 'more like a developed country'. Japan is still doing its economies like after WW2 because of political corruptions. Those old guys and the old customs of connections need to be off the board ASAP!!!!!! (BTW I am a native Japanese😂 I would be happy to help anyone who need a translator!)

@unpackingjapan

2 ай бұрын

Thank you for your wholesome comment

@jryanp

2 ай бұрын

Working on moving there

You can also leave your laptop in a Taiwanese coffee shop

Another reason for “lower quality” materials, is that the Japanese are always thinking on destruction. The next big Tokyo earthquake is around the corner, so the thinking goes on avoiding expensive stuff that may need replacement soon. All those materials we see in the houses are easy to move around, standardized, and easier to find and fix.

Japan is for racial Japanese people and I like that. Its not for black or whites, its not for Indians. Its for Japanese.

Dont say cheap... it is not cheap... its affordable.. the two are not the same.

i think a sub conscious reason they dont want to spend so much on making the house is because of the natural disasters they frequently have and could lose everything in a blink of an eye.

There is NOTHING cheap about housing in Tokyo, or Japan for that matter, this young buck needs to wake up and realize not everyone is a millionaire.

@user-gt2yf5tr8j

11 сағат бұрын

There are these shacks (akiya) for sale in the depressing parts of Japan. But a livable villa in a normal part of the country price the same as the usa. 1mil - 2mil$. There are also these 1$ homes in the usa (detroit) etc. But American society sucks. Hence japanese akiya being more attractive. But still not a good buy

@allaboutjapan237

3 сағат бұрын

@@user-gt2yf5tr8j exactly. And people who buy those Akiya houses just buy them, don’t even live in them most likely. I mean aren’t houses meant to be lived in?