[bluepizza]

Aren’t the backstreets of the less central ku filled with houses? I mean Setagaya, Ota, Edogawa, Adachi, Suginami, etc.

I used to pick stations at random to arrive at and explore, and what I always saw was endless houses. Only the areas closer to bigger stations had manshon.

I think you might be conflating Shibuya/Roppongi/Shinjuku with less central parts of the 23 special wards.

[skhr0680]

even in Shinjuku there are cheap houses if you look. My friend rents an old house with renovated interior in Shimoochiai for what I thought was surprisingly cheap

[wst_]

Those are huge wards by themselves. There are plenty of busy as well as residential places. For example, Setagaya-ku - stations like Sangenjaya, Jiyugaoka or Futakotamagawa are far cry from the quiet residential areas. There's a lot of any kind of housing there - bigger, smaller, houses and mansions alike.