Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyororin
It isn`t really just to beat the paperwork.
Japan has earthquakes - sometimes serious ones. In recent years techniques for strengthening a building have been developed, and there are currently strict earthquake tolerance requirements in place for buildings. However, in the past there were not. (Or those that were in place were much less stringent).
As buildings age they become weaker and more prone to collapse. And the heavier the building started, the greater chance of dying if it falls down on you.
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Ah, that's true. I hadn't considered earthquakes into the equation, although I did wonder about the life expectancy. If it's a safety issue then that makes much more sense, and actually, thinking about it, the houses I saw tended to be either very new looking or distinctly pre-war. I guess it's as you say, it seems very odd to me as in the UK the trend tends to be that houses will stay in service for a long time. You don't tend to expect your house to have a shorter life expectancy as your kids. I take it then, most people will move more than once; you couldn't really do what my Gran has done and pass the average family house onto the next generation.