[lang_agnostic]

No mention to earthquake or typhoons?

I always thought the urbanization of Japan was mostly limited by natural conditions.

Indeed, there is no point in making tall buildings if they are more likely to fall and cost more in repairs and anti-seismic technology

[boomboomsubban]

San Fransisco was one of the main cities Tokyo was compared to, which faces very similar natural conditions.

[aikinai]

There are definitely lot of policy, infrastructure, and cultural differences in play as well, but this is a huge factor the author missed.

Japan didn't allow any tall buildings until 1963, so the development of tall urban centers came very late, and as others have mentioned, followed patterns of existing rail infrastructure.

[NetOpWibby]

Yeah, that was an obvious omission.