Explore everyday life in Japan
In Japan, houses and buildings are given 'life expectancies'--periods of time for which it is thought they will serve their purposes. Over time, as they live out their allotted periods of usefulness, their values slowly diminish down to zero. It may sound strange, but a beautiful old house in Japan can be worth nothing more than the land it was built on.
Whereas in many other countries around the world houses and buildings generally add value to the property on which they were built, the opposite holds true in Japan. In Japan, the land itself is the only thing that retains value; and land here can be quite expensive.
It is this way of approaching real estate, I am guessing, more so than a lack of space, that has led to the practice of turning the rooftops of malls, supermarkets, and other shopping centers into parking lots. In large cities like Tokyo and Osaka, of course, available space is at a minimum, but in smaller cities and country towns, this is simply not the case. Beyond its many metropolises, Japan is mostly a country of large open spaces that have either been dedicated to agriculture or left as they are to nature.
Whatever the case may be, space is not wasted in Japan, even when it comes to something necessary like designing parking. In addition to finding typical parking garages and narrow multi-story car elevator storage facilities, it is not uncommon to find long car ramps winding around the outside of well used supermarkets and large shopping centers in Japan. These ramps generally lead to two things, extra rooftop parking spaces, and great views of the surrounding city or countryside.
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.