Quality is part of Japanese culture. You really see it when you walk around on the streets there. Our grandparents' lamentations of 'things used to last longer and be higher quality' would make no sense to a Japanese person because their culture never underwent the same cheapening that we did. (Assuming our grandparents were being completely honest)
In my experience, things in Japan tend to be higher quality, cleaner, and much more expensive. The three things I think of when I think about my time there are the clean streets, the old, clean, and eerily on-time public transportation, and the individually wrapped perfectly shiny apples at the grocery store.
What do you mean by “you can see it when you walk around the streets in here”? Did you spend all your time in central Tokyo? Because all i see around me when i go for a walk are buildings no one seems to care enough to renovate them and honestly it amazes me. All those amazing products you see that come from japan are usually made in a buildings that look like makeshift houses and are built in the middle of a nowhere.
I could never imagine japan being what it is by just from walking around in here.
I remember seeing a documentary about one of the top handmade Japanese knives. I was amazed that it's literally made in the craftsman's falling down house, on a normal street in a normal rural village. I wish I remembered the name of the brand. It's quite well known. The knives are beautiful, but the workshop is function over form to put it mildly (I seem to remember he didn't even have a floor in his workshop -- which makes a lot of sense, but still surprising).
Before a first moved to Japan a friend warned me that Japanese cities are generally ugly. You've got power and telephone wires everywhere. The buildings are old, rusting, and falling apart. There are weeds growing in cracks everywhere. But if you go inside a person's home, there is this amazing transformation. It's usually beautiful. Even in an old falling down home, the interior is often wonderful (of course everyone is different and especially elderly people often have difficulty cleaning their houses). This is often true of izakayas (bar/restaurants) as well. From the outside it looks utterly uninspiring, but it's often really amazing on the inside (although, not always ;-) ).
I never really had any expectations when I came here, so I was never disappointed. I know a lot of expats, though, who were crushed when they discovered that not everything in Japan is beautiful.
Homes and condo buildings in Japan aren't supposed to last more than 40 years. It's supposed to keep the national economy in a constant state of development (sort of good) but it also means most people can't make a good long term investment off home ownership (which is bad). Either way, yeah, there's no incentive to renovate, because they won't be up for too long. On top of that, a lot of them need to be refurnished or rebuilt to be quake-proof, but it's not affordable, so they may opt to wait until the next big one brings it down.
> it also means most people can't make a good long term investment off home ownership (which is bad)
There’s a theory that homes being a good long-term investment is incompatible with homes being affordable. If true, then I would argue that it’s good, not bad.
Under a rising population in a region, demand increases, which should increase the per sq. foot cost of housing, reflecting the need for denser living.
I lived there for 4 months. Hokkaido, Tokyo, and Osaka mostly. I feel like I got enough of a sampling.
They have old buildings, sure. But the streets are clean and well kept, it's a night and day difference b/t the U.S. and comparably dense Japanese regions.
In my experience, things in Japan tend to be higher quality, cleaner, and much more expensive. The three things I think of when I think about my time there are the clean streets, the old, clean, and eerily on-time public transportation, and the individually wrapped perfectly shiny apples at the grocery store.