Japanese capsule homes
Posted in Links on January 2nd, 2010 by Sacha PeterReading this article on the New York Times about how increasing unemployment in the Japanese economy is causing people to move out from their company-subsidized housing into “capsule hotels” while people try to find work elsewhere. The even more amazing feature is the cost of living in such a unit is relatively high (about $640/mo), but this is less than residential housing available elsewhere in Tokyo.
I ask myself whether this could happen over here – the minimal example that we have in Canada of a residential safety net is non-market housing, and the costs of that are a percentage (typically 30%) of income. Such housing is much larger than the 30 square feet (plus common areas) in the capsule hotels.
I am trying to not make a moral judgment whether this is a “good” or “bad” system – instinctively, however, I would think that in the USA, people would revolt before letting this happen to themselves. The Japanese culture appears to be more docile to adverse circumstances.
Interesting – based on older stories about racy train ads encouraging their young adults to have kids, I assumed that Japan’s population was crashing and that any employment problems would run the other direction.
I see that is not the case – flatlining yes, but not decreasing at all.
I have two questions about the cost of the coffin hotels:
1. OK, they are $640/month, but how much does other stuff cost in Japan? Is a 2 bedroom apartment $6400/month?
2. How inflated are Tokyo prices compared to the rest of Japan? Being unemployed in Vancouver is a lot less sustainable than being unemployed in Kelowna…
Perhaps I could answer some of those questions for you.
A 1 room appartment in central Tokyo (Shibuya, Shinagawa area) with just a kitchen will run at about $900/month including rent and management fees. Prices drop considerably as you go further away from the city.
Going further away from the expensive regions, but about a 20 minute train ride to Shibuya, the prices drop down to about $800/month for an equivalent room.
If you are looking at a 2 room apartment then you are looking at a $1360/month. Living in central Tokyo does get expensive and most people don’t live in the city.
The metro network is very well developed, allowing people to travel 60 km in about an hour via trains and subway in about an hour between their offices and homes making it practical to live out in the suburbs.
Moving further out from the city, about a 30 minute train ride away from Shibuya, rent priced drop considerably down to $400/month for a 1 room apartment.
This is the power of location at work here. Most of the best restaurants and places to hang out at night are located in Tokyo and if you are planning to spend a late night out in town after the trains stop at about 1 am then you are either looking at an all nighter or a very expensive taxi ride home. Living near the city give you a rather “reasonable” option of getting home for about $20~$25 for a cab back.
Being unemployed in Tokyo is tough and personally, I would think that the first thing to do is to move away from the city to somewhere cheaper when one considers their options.
Picking a different city, Sendai, which is about 300 km from Tokyo (2 hour bullet train ride), the rental prices are far cheaper over there. Living in downtown Sendai will cost about $400/month for a 1 room appartment. I used to split a 3 room appartment with 3 people for $950/month and could walk out to downtown for a few drinks and walk back home.
When it comes to living in Tokyo, be preapared to spend atleast 2x more for a good dinner you might get somewhere elsewhere in a smaller city. Ie a city with 10 million people vs 2~3 million people is the difference I am talking about.
Other then that, grocery prices don’t change too much.
With regards to the low birth rate in Japan, yes they are facing a very low birth rate at the moment. 2007 data from wikipedia indicates 1.23 children/women which is remarkably low. I believe that the reason for this is a result of the economic pressures of work and raising children and the growing independence of women (though women earn less in Japan compared to male counter parts).
I am currently employed by a Japanese company and people in my division do upwards of 60~80 hours overtime/month. This means about 3~4 hours of overtime/day. This can become challenging when it comes to spending time with the family.
Japan isn’t the only country in this predicament, but also South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore also exists under similar social circumstances.