Housing and urban transformations in Japan 1

In this chapter, we explore the development of urban housing in Japan through the lens of Tokyo. This city was at the centre of Japanese efforts to, at first, modernise and later to rebuild and catch up with the cities and economies of the West. Housing and urban practices emerged, nonetheless, in terms of local and historical contingencies that have reflected specific East Asian developmental features. The city subsequently became an icon of East Asian success and a model of socio-economic policy and practice. A core feature of post-war development was the focus on the construction of suburban housing and the creation of a home-owning, social mainstream middle class society. In the last two decades, this system has, however, begun to unravel along with the erosion of economic stability and the fragmentation of household and life-course patterns. Housing markets have become an important medium of social and economic disruption with the sector increasingly polarised around factors such as income, household composition and age.