Name: Japan's Housing for the Middle Class
Uploaded: 2020-03-22T07:10:12.000Z
Duration: 13 min 24 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hello World, something that has fascinated me

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

Adverbs of manner

Now the kanji for Danchi literally means group land.

is government housing complexes like those behind me.

Now the inspiration comes from the Soviets.

which probably accounts for the utilitarian design you see.

is that they were often built as communities,

community centers, stores, and parks nearby.

so many of them during my urban explorations,

is because they are often connected to the greenways

it doesn't mean they're all government owned

as a way to provide housing for employees.

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

UR's original name was Nihon Jutaku Kodan.

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

both for themselves and the local governments.

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,

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

So when you see those Japanese housing listings

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

Japanese style squat toilets, or washiki,

others had Western style toilets installed.

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

are ones designed for middle income earners.

where the grocery stores were right at the bottom

of the building, this place has a commercial center

The one disadvantage I saw of this planned space

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

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

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

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 of course there's space to place a fridge

which is also standard practice for Japanese housing.

Some rooms are separated by fusuma, or sliding doors.

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

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Japan's Housing for the Middle Class

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