# We should have housing policies like Tokyo **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 7, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291 "2019-08-07T14:07:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/61 "2019-08-09T07:10:29Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > Sometimes my girlfriend was with me. . Yep. You were managed around the problem. I phoned up directly about properties I was interested in, first question was if gaijin were OK, they would ask to check and call me back, often with a “no sorry”. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/62 "2019-08-09T07:25:19Z")
It’s not like it’s some conspiracy theory. You were just managed or very lucky. From [3 Reasons Japanese Landlords Won't Rent to Foreigners (and What You Can Do) - Apts.jp](https://apts.jp/tokyo-life/2017/11/3-reasons-japanese-landlords-wont-rent-to-foreigners-and-what-you-can-do/) "Why won’t Japanese landlords rent to foreign tenants? First off, please know there are plenty of property owners in Tokyo and other parts of Japan who are more than happy to accept applications from non-Japanese residents. We love working with these landlords and are dedicated to seeking them out and listing their properties. Property owners who reject applications from foreign residents tend to fall into one of two camps. First, there are the landlords who are risk-averse but not fundamentally opposed to renting to non-Japanese. Then, there are the landlords who cannot be persuaded to rent to someone from another country (or a particular country) at any cost." ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/63 "2019-08-09T08:23:58Z")
An article from a website offering their service to help foreigners find a place to rent in Japan. Yes, I’m totally convinced. :rolleyes: The article notes reasons why foreigners may find it harder to rent in Japan - salary consideration, do they have a guarantor etc. Those are factors applicable to anyone, foreigner or otherwise, and are also reasons why your rent application would be rejected in London or New York. I had to provide proof of my annual salary when I was living in New York. If you’re rejected because your salary wasn’t high enough or didn’t have a guarantor, you weren’t rejected because you were a foreigner. > [@](#): > > First, there are the landlords who are risk-averse but not fundamentally opposed to renting to non-Japanese. > Then, there are the landlords who cannot be persuaded to rent to someone from another country (or a particular country) at any cost." I suppose they exist - every country has racists - but I, and no gaijin I’ve worked with etc, have ever met anyone in the latter camp. When I die, I’ve made it clear that the ‘he loved Japan’ bullshit will not be part of my eulogy. I live here and work here, I like lots of things about it. But I also love New York and London and Hong Kong. Lots of things about Japan drive me crazy, but ‘they wont’ rent to foreigners’ seems wildly overblown as a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/64 "2019-08-09T13:39:31Z")
I have personally found it to be especially helpful when I want to talk about a book, to first open its cover and carefully read the contents _before_ I started talking about it. But I suppose there are other philosophies on this matter. > [@Kobal2](#): > > Oh, trust me, I know. As I said, Adam Smith was a moral philosopher first, an observer of commerce second… All of his economic theories are predicated on actors being both moral, rational and intelligent, if primarily driven by self-interest. To say that this is incorrect is an understatement. This is directly contrary to the content of Adam Smith’s books. Not slightly, but 180 degrees opposite of what he actually, and repeatedly, says. The fallacies of foibles of man are not a digression, not a side point, not a brief footnote, but rather a special point of emphasis that is continually returned to. This is true in both of his books. Adam Smith goes on in numerous passages pointing out the ways in which people tend to be short-sighted, unaware of likely outcomes, and insensitive to the rational choices in front of them. He describes people, most especially people with inherited influence and wealth, as vain, stupid, and incapable of understanding the results of their actions. For the most vivid example of this, the entire point of the invisible hand, which he uses once in his first book _The Theory of Moral Sentiments_ and once again in _The Wealth of Nations_ (two times total in his collected work) is that people are simply not aware of the likely results of their actions. > [@Wealth of Nations](#): > > …he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. > [@Theory of Moral Sentiments](#): > > They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species. Emphasis added. The entire point of this metaphor is that short-sighted, vain, immoral, rapacious people sometimes end up effecting systemic results that were contrary to their original greedy intentions. A person cannot genuinely read the book (not just mindlessly flipping pages, and trying to mouth out the unfamiliar polysyllabic words, but actually _reading_ and _understanding_ what is written) and believe that Smith’s economic and moral systems depended exclusively on moral, reasonable people. Such an interpretation is absurdly contrary to what’s actually in the books. His most famous metaphor is a description of a system that works _despite_ the “rapacity” and “caprice” etc. (his words!) of the upper classes, by creating an outcome which was not rationally foreseen or intended by them. His point might be summarized as: People can be selfish and short-sighted, but the system works anyway, occasionally even benefiting from their deficiencies. This isn’t a side point in Smith’s thinking. It is a primary driver of history. It’s a theme that is hammered, again and again and again, in his books. We might phrase it today as: “The logic of the system is contrary to the logic of the individuals inside the system.” When describing the loss of feudal aristocratic power, he describes the same sorts of irrational and immoral people: > [@Wealth of Nations](#): > > All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind. As soon, therefore, as they could find a method of consuming the whole value of their rents themselves, they had no disposition to share them with any other persons. For a pair of diamond buckles, perhaps, or for something as frivolous and useless, they exchanged the maintenance, or, what is the same thing, the price of the maintenance of 1000 men for a year, and with it the whole weight and authority which it could give them. Centralization of government power, and the removal of baronial authority and caprice, came as an unintended side-effect of those barons and other feudal lords frittering away the source of their authority for superficial baubles. This meant that rather than local barons ruling capriciously and variously in their sundry demesnes, a more centralized, uniform, and fair rule of law could extend from the developing merchant powers of the city into the country, in order to relieve the serfish dependency that permeated that countryside. (When Marx talked about class struggle in the progression of history, he was actually trying to fill in, and then extend, a framework that Smith had already begun. Marx cites Smith literally hundreds of times.) Adam Smith simply did not believe in the general sensibility of people. The books are both absolutely brimming full of examples of foibles. > [@Wealth of Nations](#): > > The over-weening conceit which the greater part of men have of their own abilities, is an ancient evil remarked by the philosophers and moralists of all ages. Their absurd presumption in their own good fortune has been less taken notice of. It is, however, if possible, still more universal. There is no man living, who, when in tolerable health and spirits, has not some share of it. The chance of gain is by every man more or less over-valued, and the chance of loss is by most men under-valued, and by scarce any man, who is in tolerable health and spirits, valued more than it is worth. Economics took its turn to “rational” agents well after the _Wealth of Nations_. Smith consistently made observations that we might today call “behavioral economics”. He made a special focus on errors in judgment, mistakes, fallacies, short-sightedness. The results of his economic system were not the intention of its fallible actors, but quite often the reverse, a happy result that was entirely intended. This might be the single most significant theme of his work. We can keep going, digging into more and more examples: > [@Theory of Moral Sentiments](#): > > We frequently see the respectful attentions of the world more strongly directed towards the rich and the great, than towards the wise and the virtuous. We see frequently the vices and follies of the powerful much less despised than the poverty and weakness of the innocent. > > … > > They are the wise and the virtuous chiefly, a select, though, I am afraid, but a small party, who are the real and steady admirers of wisdom and virtue. The great mob of mankind are the admirers and worshippers, and, what may seem more extraordinary, most frequently the disinterested admirers and worshippers, of wealth and greatness. To believe that Smith is describing ethical and economic systems upon which depend high reasonable, rational, and moral agents, is to be comprehensively unaware of the content of both his books. But it’s worth pointing out, too, that the system itself is not infallible. In the right circumstances, human blindness might lead to good outcomes, but in the wrong circumstances, injustice can prevail. > [@Wealth of Nations](#): > > The commodities of Europe were almost all new to America, and many of those of America were new to Europe. A new set of exchanges, therefore, began…and which should naturally have proved as advantageous to the new, as it certainly did to the old continent. The savage injustice of the Europeans rendered an event, which ought to have been beneficial to all, ruinous and destructive to several of those unfortunate countries. It doesn’t always work. Being able to tell the difference between a good system and a bad, when the judgment of so many of us is so flawed, is a key question for a civilization. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/65 "2019-08-09T14:53:29Z")
> [@Hellestal](#): > > I have personally found it to be especially helpful when I want to talk about a book, to first open its cover and carefully read the contents _before_ I started talking about it. But I suppose there are other philosophies on this matter. > > To say that this is incorrect is an understatement. This is directly contrary to the content of Adam Smith’s books. Not slightly, but 180 degrees opposite of what he actually, and repeatedly, says. The fallacies of foibles of man are not a digression, not a side point, not a brief footnote, but rather a special point of emphasis that is continually returned to. This is true in both of his books. You misunderstand my point in your haste to mock. Adams, I’m reasonably sure, never explicitly lays out a recommended scheme or system in Wealth (that being said I may be wrong on this, for one thing I never did read it in its entirety, just the bits with all the pictures, for another what I did read was millions of years ago) which is why I called him an “observer of commerce”. He contented himself with laying out “this is how things work in the world at present and how these systems interact as I understand them”, and notes that the foibles of man sometimes converge with actual good outcomes even if that’s wholly unintended. As your last quote notes however, the foibles of man are just as apt to fuck it all up. A system that produces good results by accident but sometimes causes the minor continental genocide or enormous political upheaval is not a system that _works_, by my admittedly idiosynchratic acception of the word. If my operating system ran as I wanted it to 75% of the time but made my computer explode the other 25%, I would not describe that piece of software as “working”. Which is why the folks who came later, claiming that laissez faire everywhere all the time is clearly the best possible thing to do because The Market will somehow fix everything because idiots are guided by an invisible hand and capital is totally meritocratic you guys are, well, misguided shall we say. The Magic Market would only lead to a majority of (or even exclusively) positive outcomes for all involved _if_ actors were led by what Adams qualifies as “wisdom and virtue” rather than “worship of wealth”. Because you don’t write entire books first describind then shitting on people’s inadequacies at length if you don’t implicitly set out to correct them, or at least edumacate them. S’called subtext, that is. Better now ? Not too monosyllabic for you ? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/66 "2019-08-09T14:57:31Z")
(by the way, that “We see frequently the vices and follies of the powerful much less despised than the poverty and weakness of the innocent.” ? That’s a good quote, that is) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/67 "2019-08-09T15:31:23Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > How many times do we have to explain this to your types : absent strong moral imperatives and social consequences for breaking them, the Invisible Hand does. Not. Work. I’d say that with respect to American housing issues, the Invisible Hand’s obstacles are a host of regulatory requirements: zoning, parking minimums, setback requirements, height limitations, lot size requirements, you name it. Take the [Vienna, VA Metro station](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Vienna%2FFairfax-GMU/@38.8775711,-77.2737021,829m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xaed8819b1f5a6c8d!8m2!3d38.8777047!4d-77.2716314). You could have a town built around this Metro stop, there’s surely thousands more people who’d like to live on that side of the DC area and be within walking distance of the Metro than can actually do so. It’s not the invisible hand that preserves all that single-family housing there, or prioritizes parking spaces within walking distance of the Metro over apartments within walking distance of the Metro. It’s zoning in the former case, and probably a mix of politics and zoning in the latter case. If I were the Housing God, I’d get rid of all the zoning, parking, setback requirements within a quarter-mile of any permanently constructed mass transit stop. Just build, baby! ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/68 "2019-08-09T16:29:43Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > If I were the Housing God, I’d get rid of all the zoning, parking, setback requirements within a quarter-mile of any permanently constructed mass transit stop. Just build, baby! Well, concrete jungles have their own downside(s), and what’s possible in Japan due to their strong cultural community values of is not necessarily workable elsewhere. So I wouldn’t call for an absolutely unrestricted license to build. Unless you really like Mumbai for some reason. But I agree there’s a more sensible middle to be reached than preserving residential suburbia. I’m not sure I could articulate what the “correct” population density would be where the comfort of each is high enough, the alienation of the individual is kept to a minimum, infrastructure requirements/solutions are neither problematic nor overtaxed and housing supply is plentiful enough that rents don’t make your eyes explode. What we could call an “harmonious and balanced order of things”, at the risk of sounding a bit Mysteriously Auriental about it :D. However, since such an ideal population density level must perforce exist, and is presumably actively sought out by wonks and be-spectacled eggheads of various stripes, you bet it \*should \*be strongly encouraged by laws and regs, and abuses in either direction (too much nimby vs too much skyscraping) prevented. This over the will of both suburbanites clutching their pearls and developpers dreaming of having to find a new bank because they’ve filled up the first one. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/69 "2019-08-09T17:05:19Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Because you don’t write entire books first describind then shitting on people’s inadequacies at length if you don’t implicitly set out to correct them, or at least edumacate them. S’called subtext, that is. I find it generally works out better if I read a book before I tell other what its subtext is. YMMV. > [@](#): > > The Magic Market would only lead to a majority of (or even exclusively) positive outcomes for all involved _if_ actors were led by what Adams qualifies as “wisdom and virtue” rather than “worship of wealth” > [@](#): > > As your last quote notes however, the foibles of man are just as apt to fuck it all up. As Smith correctly notes, the foibles of man are indeed just as apt to fuck it all up. And since those who wish to intervene are equally likely to be subject to motives other than wisdom and virtue, they are, as you say, equally likely to fuck up. > [@](#): > > I’m not sure I could articulate what the “correct” population density would be where the comfort of each is high enough, the alienation of the individual is kept to a minimum, infrastructure requirements/solutions are neither problematic nor overtaxed and housing supply is plentiful enough that rents don’t make your eyes explode. Which is very much the problem. You want a system where everybody gets everything they want. Economics is predicated on the notion that resources are limited - everyone can’t always get everything they want. People want high property values, low housing costs, conveniently located close to amenities, not too densely populated, no urban sprawl, and low taxes. People in hell want ice water, too. They don’t necessarily get it. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/70 "2019-08-09T17:35:50Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > I’ve usually just walked into the local real estate place near where I’m looking to rent. > They’ve shown me the full listings, not the ‘here are the gaijin-friendly’ places. I know because I’ve usually asked about notices in the window. > > A few times I’ve called about ads about places (newspaper flyers etc). > Always got a viewing right away, and there was never ‘oh, sorry you’re a gaijin’. > Not saying it never happens in Japan. But if it was that common, I’d think I would have run into it at some point given my sample size. > [@Isamu](#): > > Yep. You were managed around the problem. I phoned up directly about properties I was interested in, first question was if gaijin were OK, they would ask to check and call me back, often with a “no sorry”. I know that I was shown a place or two that I liked and then, later, the agent called and the owner said that they don’t take gaijin. If DragonAsh saw no hint of it - no notice on apartment listings, no rejections after his showings, etc. - I’d venture to guess that it’s a combination of sheer luck and/or living someplace like Yokohama or Nagasaki, with a history of being a gaijin area. ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/71 "2019-08-09T23:24:06Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I know that I was shown a place or two that I liked and then, later, the agent called and the owner said that they don’t take gaijin. > > If DragonAsh saw no hint of it - no notice on apartment listings, no rejections after his showings, etc. - I’d venture to guess that it’s a combination of sheer luck and/or living someplace like Yokohama or Nagasaki, with a history of being a gaijin area. 70% of the time, I’ve found places on my own. Somehow I don’t think having a girlfriend with me qualifies as ‘being managed around the problem’; not all of the girlfriends were Japanese, you know. Haven’t lived in Yokohama or Nagasaki. Actually none of the places I’ve lived would be considered to have a history of ‘lots of gaijin in the area’. I’ve lived in rural Mie Prefecture, several places in and around Osaka, and several places in and around central Tokyo. Lived in these places on and off since the mid 1980s, across all price points. I’ve been asked about visa status, work/salary, ability to pay a deposit/key money (thankfully less common now). Some places required a guarantor, some places didn’t. Early on my Japanese was pretty rubbish, but I could get by. My Japanese is…er, better now. Again - not saying it never happens. I’m saying that it’s odd that I - and the non-Japanese people I’ve worked with etc - have literally never once had the ‘sorry no gaijin can rent here’ door shut in their face. You can go read Debito if you want to read about people complaining about stuff like that, if you don’t mind shaving 30% off your IQ for a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/72 "2019-08-10T04:14:46Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > 70% of the time, I’ve found places on my own. Somehow I don’t think having a girlfriend with me qualifies as ‘being managed around the problem’; not all of the girlfriends were Japanese, you know. > > Haven’t lived in Yokohama or Nagasaki. Actually none of the places I’ve lived would be considered to have a history of ‘lots of gaijin in the area’. I’ve lived in rural Mie Prefecture, several places in and around Osaka, and several places in and around central Tokyo. Lived in these places on and off since the mid 1980s, across all price points. > > I’ve been asked about visa status, work/salary, ability to pay a deposit/key money (thankfully less common now). Some places required a guarantor, some places didn’t. Early on my Japanese was pretty rubbish, but I could get by. My Japanese is…er, better now. > > Again - not saying it never happens. I’m saying that it’s odd that I - and the non-Japanese people I’ve worked with etc - have literally never once had the ‘sorry no gaijin can rent here’ door shut in their face. You can go read Debito if you want to read about people complaining about stuff like that, if you don’t mind shaving 30% off your IQ for a bit. I just told you that I have, so there you go. It wasn’t a giant big deal, the real estate agent just relayed that the one place was a no-go. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/73 "2019-08-10T04:25:26Z")
Also, numbers from landlords surveyed by the Japanese government: [https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2017/07/02/issues/no-foreign-tenants-not-much-can-you-can-do/#.XU5F6Y5Kh4U](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2017/07/02/issues/no-foreign-tenants-not-much-can-you-can-do/#.XU5F6Y5Kh4U) > [@](#): > > Masayuki Yokote, manager of the land ministry’s Housing Support Division, says that in a recent survey of Japan Property Management Association members, 60 percent of respondents said they were reluctant to accept foreign tenants. The association represented 1,321 companies handling some 5 million properties as of April 2016. Just over 16 percent of respondents refused to accept foreigners, period. This literally took about 5 seconds to Google. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/74 "2019-08-10T04:32:38Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > Again - not saying it never happens. I’m saying that it’s odd that I - and the non-Japanese people I’ve worked with etc - have literally never once had the ‘sorry no gaijin can rent here’ door shut in their face. You can go read Debito if you want to read about people complaining about stuff like that, if you don’t mind shaving 30% off your IQ for a bit. Did you ever get, “Sorry, we’re full”? ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/75 "2019-08-10T04:34:42Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > That is amazing. Do you look Asian? How many places have you rented? When I was renting 25 or so years ago I got turned down because I was not Japanese about 70% of the time I made inquiries. I hear you. Tokyo made me emotionally preview what living while black in American might mean. I landed my first profession job in the early 1990’s for a Swiss Investment Bank making about $80k/year. I didn’t have a gaijin package but I could easily afford a $1500/month 6-mat apartment. My Japanese was not great, but I could cover the basics. One place just freaked when I tried to walk in “no, no, no gaijin”. Other’s put up with me but knew it was a waste of time. One that found me a place would start out saying "I’ve got a special situation here. Works for a Swiss Investment Bank, has a guarantee from the bank, speaks some Japanese, nice guy, has the deposit ready, by the way is a gaijin (white guy). He landed my place and I was thankful. Rental agency #1 also got a rock thru the window. Fuckin’ A, I don’t think I have ever been so pissed off in my life. Here I am with a professional job, cash and you won’t even give me the time of day. And I did realize it was just a small taste of what many people of color live every day in the US. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/76 "2019-08-10T16:23:04Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > I hear you. Tokyo made me emotionally preview what living while black in American might mean. My favorite was to walk by the Nationalists yelling that they need to kick out the foreigners. It reminds you that you might always bump into one of them in a dark alley some day. I’m doubtful that they would be so kind as to simply suggest in passing that you pack your bags. (Though, to be fair, most of their animosity was directed towards Southeast Asians not Americans.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/77 "2019-08-10T17:38:58Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Do you think rent control “works?” Mild rent control, like the sort they have in San Jose, certainly does. SJ limits rent increases to 8% a year, thus protecting the renter (and the landlord) from rapid swings in the marketplace and economy. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/78 "2019-08-10T19:46:34Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Mild rent control, like the sort they have in San Jose, certainly does. SJ limits rent increases to 8% a year, thus protecting the renter (and the landlord) from rapid swings in the marketplace and economy. San Jose has the lowest rental vacancy rate in the nation. That doesn’t speak well for being a well-functioning housing market. ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/79 "2019-08-11T00:40:39Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > You misunderstand my point in your haste to mock. Your “point” was wrong in the way you stated it. You are free to clarify your point, as you have now tried to do, but I would suggest that a more reasonable technique in the future is to admit candidly when a statement is incorrect, rather than fecklessly shifting the blame to others for “misunderstanding” your “point”, when your statements were flatly false as written. > [@Kobal2](#): > > …for one thing I never did read it in its entirety, just the bits with all the pictures, for another what I did read was millions of years ago… > > \ > > Better now ? Not too monosyllabic for you ? Yes, that’s much better. You have now clearly admitted that you didn’t read the whole book, and what you read was an extremely long time ago. I’m fine with that. That makes perfect sense. That’s a great explanation for why you wrote false things about it. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291/80 "2019-08-11T00:53:21Z")
You must make so many friends wherever you go. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-have-housing-policies-like-tokyo/838291.md?page=5)