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  • 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!

Hello World, something that has fascinated me

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