Hello every one this is Peter. Thank you for listening Quirky Japanese Podcast.
By the way, I’m Japanese Tutor. Teaching Japanese to the mostly Aussies. Some of my students are thinking to settle down in Japan one day. In the future, I’m excited to meet them in Japan.
One of my student asked me about living cost. Food, drink, fitness, entertainment, these are cheaper than Melbourne. But, the housing has a different price.
In Australia, when you buy a house in suburb, you would buy the land too. When you leave the place, you take the house over to the next. In a suburban place like Niigata, the city office love to give you a house with subsidy.
The population of young generation is rapidly decreasing in such a rural area. Often, parents encourage their kids to go a well known university in a big city like Tokyo. After the graduation, a few youth go back to their home town to get a job. There is less opportunity for them.
One of my student said ”So much people in the Tokyo, I felt isolated”. So, the urban city is flooded by people. Estimated Population in Tokyo is more than 14 million. The population density of Tokyo is 6,224 people per square kilometer. Look, some of the free range chicken share a square kilometre with 150,000 friends. People in Tokyo use the space only 20 times bigger than the happy chickens.
These fact makes me really sad. Because, when I was a uni student, I travelled to the South by the local train. When I was on the train going through the tunnel between Yamaguchi to Fukuoka, I’ve fallen asleep on the old lady’s shoulder. She was completely stranger to me. I had a few idea what she talked. She looked really healthy and happy. This story is unrelated to the previous part, but that was one of my beautiful memory.
Anyway, BBC released an article about housing in Tokyo. The man sells the haunted house. As in previously some one suicide or died in that apartment. The price get worse, no one want to live there except youth don’t believe ghost.
Behind this story, there is a poverty in the young generation. The company stop providing life-time employment anymore. So called non-regular employment. Anyway it’s part time. Japanese try to say it nicely, but it’s just part time. If you get the real full-time job in Japan, you are extremely lucky.
Off course, I believe in ghost. It’s scary. If you have enough money and a stable job, you wouldn’t step forward to the haunted apartment. Imagine you are sleeping in the same room of the suicide. That definitely freaks me out. But, that kind of apartment exists. You can’t ignore the high rate of suicide in Japan.
I talk about the blight side of the Japanese housing. I lived in the share house once. That was a half foreigner and half Japanese. We enjoyed the party in the weekend. Welcome the news and farewell the olds. It sounds like a old fashioned, but so much fun. And that was very natural to do that. Almost every one from the overseas comes to Japan, they were very polite and respectful. Off course, there is a exception, but today, I leave it still.
Look at the blight side! Watch Terrace House! This is the end of the episode. Did you enjoy it? If you like my episode, please share with your friends. That’s how independent remained motivated. Please hit the subscribe!
