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by nextworddev 907 days ago
And Tokyo is already showing signs of becoming Vancouver for Canada, which pursued that visa strategy
1 comments

How so? I’m genuinely curious as a current Tokyo resident.

The main issues Vancouver seems to face are:

Affordability and Housing Crisis: Tokyo is a remarkably affordable city given its status. There’s housing stock at pretty much every price level.

Homelessness and Street Disorder: not a problem in Tokyo

Drug Addiction and Overdose Crisis: not a problem in Tokyo

Traffic Congestion and Transportation: public transportation is stellar in Tokyo. Traffic can get pretty crazy at rush hour, but I hear that’s been the case for a long time and it’s not much of a problem if you use the aforementioned fantastic train system.

FWIW, I left San Francisco after close to 15 years due to the issues above. Tokyo has its problems, but they don’t seem to be in the same category.

Agree it’s not as bad as Vancouver, but housing costs in Tokyo are rising [1]. And speculation by Chinese investors is being blamed, similar to Vancouver.

And while I agree that public transportation is excellent, commuting every day on crowded trains, which can take an hour or more for many people, would be hell for me personally.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/surging-tokyo-property-...

Only this year, did the most central parts of Tokyo finally return to their peak property prices from 1989. Tokyo is a steal compared to its "Global Alpha" counterparts.
Most haven’t been through 2011 or any decent earthquake over there so they say stuff like this