Japanese Narrow Housing
- Filed under: Japan, News
- Date: Jan 28, 2009 00:48 JST
- Tags: Architecture, Bizarre, Cars, Real Estate, Tokyo
An exercise in space management or one of desperation? It looks as though entering both the car and the building will prove challenging, to say nothing of parking.
For those doubting the authenticity of such a dwelling, be assured that they do exist, and it is far from uncommon to see garage doors which close only halfway, with a car bonnet protruding into the street. Presumably access is only by the rear of the vehicle?
And yes, these inherently silly buildings do enjoy a low reputation even amongst the Japanese.
The high cost of idling land in central Tokyo seems to preclude leaving such spots vacant until they can be consolidated with a neighbouring plot, and even with the high rate of rebuilding, it seems two plots coming onto the market close enough to merged into a more viable area is not a common enough event.
Still, it is at least innovative architecture?
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/ubic999/1999#5172788895932710210
What’s probably even sadder is that there’s probably a whole family living in there - husband, wife and kids.
i doubt it. more like a college kid or a young couple. that house is an inbetweener you know the house you move in before you realy get started in life.
lol, how do you get in the car? XD maybe there’s a passage behind the front seat going to the back car door… hehe
Clearly there’s a hatch above the vehicle that allows the driver to jump from the front window into the driver seat of the car. Ninja or super hero style, whatever you’re in the mood for.
or a fireman’s pole going straight down into the sunroof!! :)
Lol brad I’m in the mood for ninja
Now you’re thinking with portals!
I don’t care what you say, there is no possible way the upper portion of that building could be supported by the lower portion.
Shopped.
A few steel rods, or just plain ferro-concrete, is more than enough.
Lol… i saw a three floored squaters bldg in my country thinner than this… that means a thick two-floor is no problem…
Brick upon brick. Legit.
Bricks are never involved in Japan… Just interesting patterns on concrete.
Not a shop. There’s an article about estates like these around the world. Mainly buildings like these are built to insult or annoy their neighbors. However, given how small many modern Japanese houses are, this may have been just because of a space issue.
People actually live in these things? No matter how much I look at it, I keep thinking of Tetris.
Maybe thats why japanese people are so awesome at the game - They are living it.
I just had to :P
And yeah, looks a tad to narrow for my taste!
how do you even get out if you are not driving the car? And it looks so easy to shop…
Never mind the car, how do you get in the house?! Must have some cat flap through that gap on the right..or maybe in through some hole in the roof…hmmm~
The back?
the car looks shopped.
Yeah it’s definitely shopped I mean how the heck would you drive into that place without bumping into the walls?
I’ve seen worse here…
I think there’s a house like this in the UK or US. Watch it on TV before..
I know Japanese people are on the whole some of the skinniest people you’ll ever meet, but day-amn….
That’s a shotgun shack on steel stilts! O_O
he most have pole that slides right into the car
the japanese must have invented real portals to get in that thing.
I want to watch the driver back into that garage. He’d need two shoehorns and a tub of K-Y jelly.
Ah Japan. I remember opening the window to my hotel room in Osaka and discovering there was another building less then a foot away from my face.
i jumped from my friends balcony to his neighbors when i visited. well actually it more of a wide step.
Oh, economy.
National Geographic had special on japanese houses and how developers adapt.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/man-made/3293/Overview
If I hadn’t seen with my own eyes (apartments and stuff just like this one in Japan), I’d say it’s shopped.
But yep, I’ve been in a neighborhood where I saw cars parked in spaces just like this one.
I dont see what the big deal is, it looks bigger than my place D:
the garage looks shopped
Lego FTW!
HOW DO THEY GET OUT OF THE CAR IF THERE IS NO ROOM TO OPEN THE DOORS?
what do they do about the rear-view mirrors? they would just snap off when you got into the garage….
Mirrors are for n00bs.
there is probably a roll up or sliding door on the side and you can then open the van door once it’s ope, get in and drive out. Also, yeah that place is probably bigger than where I live, I’d live there if I could ;).
Umm, a door leading where, precisely? The 3-inch gap between the building and the neighbouring house?
So, does that mean the side-view mirrors are cast-offable?
You’re all wrong. In fact, if you look closely, there are small rollers under the sides of the building. When the authorities begin to suspect something, the guy just jumps into his car and parks his house in another alley.
Reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
I don’t think that’s a moving house, it won’t clear pedestrian clearances…
wtf how does he even get into the house when there is no door wait how does he even get into the freakin car? XD
Heres a video of a van that parks in a simalar situation, after he parks it he gets out the back of the van and then leaves the door open for the cat so he can sleep in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQdnPecu1SM&e&fmt=18
whoa thats a small house. thats just wrong way to do thing for some people who live that house. its kinda disturbing.
Wtf.How the hell, do you get out of the car.
Obviously the car is like those space ship, where the pilot slides down the chute and drive off.
Like any space jet/mecha.
Living in a place like that would be pretty cool for a first appartment for yourself, it even has a garage. I wouldn’t mind living in a place like that at all it looks pretty fun, I have a dirtbike instead of a car to get around the city so that garage would be perfect for it.
at least the japanese doesn’t waste anything even land