[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Sangetsu

There aren't much in the way of building codes or standards in Japan. You can build anything you want, regardless of how ugly or poorly made, so long as the building has three or less floors.

Know how I can tell you`ve never tried to build a house in Japan?

Structurally, Japan has some of the strictest standards in the world. (A couple years ago it was the strictest structural building code in the world, but I don`t have the newest info. Probably still is though, as it was worlds above the next step down.) They tend to upgrade the standards almost every year, making it harder and harder to build.
Houses take forever and cost a ridiculous amount in part because at every step of the way, you have to have an inspector come in and check whether it is up to code.

There are also extremely detailed laws on how large the building can be, how close it can be to the edge of the lot, the angle of the roof, how much light can be blocked from the neighboring lots, etc, that change on each individual lot.

The appearance of a building does not reflect how sturdy it is structurally, and has nothing to do with building code. Being ugly or having a crappy outer facing is not something that building codes cover.

There is a reason every house in Japan doesn`t fall over when there is a tremor. To put it into perspective, someone I know (friend of family) in the US had to write off their (3 year old, $400,000) house after a 3.something earthquake last year. The whole house slipped off the foundation and the chimney completely fell over, pulling part of the roof with it... Japan is the last place I would accuse of having lax building codes.

There are no regulations requiring that your new home be built to match the architecture of the surroundings, such as there are in America or Europe.

It all depends on the location. There are areas with regulations on the appearance and some areas have laws on the books forcing you to match everything down to the color to that of the neighborhood. It`s all about location - I highly doubt that * everywhere* in the US or Europe has that sort of regulation.

Walk through a neighborhood in Tokyo and you'll see run-down shacks buried behind apartment buildings and newer homes.

So... People who live in old houses should tear them down to match the newer homes and apartment buildings? Or the new buildings should have been built to match the much older buildings? I don`t get what you are trying to say here after what you said above. People don`t build new "run-down shacks". Those are mostly immediately post-war. Money doesn`t grow on trees, so for a lot of people it is not feasible to tear them down and build anew when a lot of new buildings are built in the area.

New Japanese houses are simply ugly. They are block-like, built with as much sense to style as machinegun pillboxes on the Normandy beaches.

I agree that they aren`t the prettiest to look at, but function trumps form when you only have a small space to work with.

The windows are high and small, affording no views, the doors are metal, with a camera and intercom. In a country as safe as Japan is, people seem to prefer homes and apartments which are as secure as prisons, and even styled after such.

Views? You live somewhere that has a view? If most of these houses had large windows, you`d be staring at your neighbors wall. Or be visible to anyone walking by. Or even worse, staring *in* your neighbors window...
Privacy is the key, not security. People don`t want other people looking in and seeing the only space that is entirely private. In tight neighborhoods, people DO try to look. I can`t imagine how much it would suck to have the old woman next door gossiping about how she saw me throwing away perfectly good food through the kitchen window... Or how she couldn`t believe we were still in our pajamas after 8am! (Real complaints I have heard...)
In tightly packed spaces, privacy is at a premium. I cannot fault anyone for wanting to protect it... Especially as the reason we opted not to build a house and to buy a マンション was privacy.

I much prefer the traditional Japanese houses, poorly insulated and fire-prone as they are. I see them come up for sale from time to time, at bargain prices.

Aesthetically, so do I. But I have lived in one... so definitely would not choose to do so again. They`re great to look at, but you can`t forget that people have to deal with living in them.