[brut]

Maybe there's a way to get the best of both worlds? High density with space? I don't know much about civil engineering, architecture and urban planning but I'm absolutely certain the the current state is just a local minimum, not an optimal solution. I'm pretty sure we could optimize for higher density, shorter commute and larger living spaces if we wanted to.

[verisimilidude]

Oddly enough, Tokyo felt like high density and high space to me. Although my apartment was just one tiny room, I realized I was spending all my waking time outside. My apartment was my bedroom and storage, nothing more. I did most of my living in the city. And Tokyo is HUGE.

(This is in pretty stark contrast to my experiences in America, where I spend most of my waking time at home, even when hanging out with friends.)

When I came to that conclusion, suddenly the density didn't bother me so much. It was a change in mindset rather than actual physical space.

[mjfl]

You just need family-size non-luxury apartments to buy (and not rent). The only apartments of that size in any city that I know cost in the millions per unit. That's simply out of reach for your local dentist or pizza shop owner with a wife and 3 kids.

[crazy2be]

Out of reach for your local dentist? Huh? Dentists make more than most people here, $159k/yr average[1]. Software developers make a little over half that on average, depending on which sub occupation they work in. [2].

[1] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/dentists.htm [2] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/...

[VLM]

Dentists already have a mortgage sized student loan payment to make.

People also confuse revenue with profit. My coworker's OB/GYN has great revenue, but her insurance costs are amazing, almost as much as my salary.

From memory of my kids birth the hospital direct bills expensive equipment, certainly my buddies wife did not personally fund the construction of the birthing center room, however if my dentist wants a new x-ray or new chair AFAIK its literally cash out of his checking account.

Its comparing apples and oranges. Much like comparing U3 employment stats in an employee culture like the USA where as in Japan I understand they hire once a year for new grads and if you don't make it into a real job at a real company (and very many don't) its a lifetime of either NEET or temp work, so their concept of U3 means very little compared to our concept of U3. Their concept of U3 is kind of like our concept of U3 of military service academy recent officer graduates.

[jessaustin]

In USA the dentists who are starting families and would theoretically be looking for this sort of apartment are all $300k in debt already.

[mjfl]

At best tangential to my point.