I was commenting in off-blog life, so I can't prove to you that I'd noticed the absence of this particular thing. It's hard to notice all the things that are not being talked about. And sometimes you just notice if the talk resumes.
But I did talk about it yesterday, and the topic has resumed. The NYT has: "95-Square-Foot Tokyo Apartment: ‘I Wouldn’t Live Anywhere Else’/Meet the young Japanese who have decided to live in a shoe box."
[The units] have 12-foot ceilings and an attic-like loft for sleeping. They are also stylish, with pristine white floors and walls, and with some efficient arranging, it is possible to squeeze a washing machine, a fridge, a sofa and a work desk inside....
The small spaces work for the lifestyle of many young Japanese. In Japan, it is not customary to hosts guests in homes, with nearly a third of Japanese people saying they have never had friends over.... Many Japanese, young and old, also work long hours, leaving little time to spend at home. And a growing share of people in Tokyo are living alone... [and thus] more likely to eat out, or grab one of the many premade meal options from convenience stores or groceries, so a full kitchen is less necessary.
That's Japan. There's no word on whether this kind of life would work for Americans. How many of us entertain guests in our home? Is there enough to do just outside your abode that you could be content with a space for sleeping, sitting in front of a screen, changing your clothes, and eating toast made in a "one-slot toaster"?
Just a few days ago, the Times had a Paul Krugman column — "Wonking Out: How the Remote Work Craze Made Housing Affordability Worse" — that endorsed the American preference for a big house:
[T]he pandemic changed the way we live and work — or, more likely, brought forward changes that were going to happen eventually. This led people to want more space at home. And that’s OK. What we need now is to let markets give people what they want, at a price more people can afford.
What do you think of that?! Give people what they want. And we want bigger houses. There's not a peep about climate change and carbon footprints.
Maybe it's because of the election coming up. There will be time enough to pressure us out of what we want after the right people acquire the requisite power.
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I used to have a bit of a tiny house obsession. It do happened that it was while my mother-in-law was staying with us for an extended period... I love her very much, but we are quite different from one another and I was challenged by sharing "my" home with another woman.
Now I live in a too-big house, we entertain frequently and regularly have houseguests, and I'm over it. One of my biggest issues with staying in a VRBO or Airbnb is the often inadequate kitchen setup - I like to cook and can work with a small and ill-appointed kitchen, but it's not very fun. So nope, 95 square feet with no kitchen at all is not for me.
Again, the left tries to normalize deprivation in advance of full-on socialism.
The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uycsfu4574w
Some people like tiny houses but wouldn't be caught dead in a teensy apartment. Nature, fresh air, etc.
Maybe with some people it's the opposite. Lawns to mow, property taxes, etc.
Our Professor Althouse raises the disturbing topic...
off-blog life
I'm Not Sure, that i'm comfortable with the idea of you having an 'off-blog life'.
Next Thing You Know, people will be expect us readers to start having 'off-blog lives' too.
Where will it end?
"You will have nothing, and you will be happy about it."
-Klaus Schwab
The NYT's is just pushing propaganda for it's masters. The people who read the NYT's are gullible while simultaneously being nasty and controlling.
Democrats are miserable and angry and they want to make sure everyone else in the world suffers with them.
Consider how many Americans have closets larger than this.
It helps to be no more than five and a half feet tall and have the ability to stay in the Asian squat for half the day without complaint. American tiny houses are mcmansions by comparison
I believe you are correct in you casual observation. The demise of the tiny house fad was inevitable. Once the TV shows ran out of innovative tiny houses, you are left with the reality that there is a distinct disadvantage to a tiny house. The other reality is that a tiny house is just cuter, smaller, nicer looking version of a small house or mobile home (which is also on wheels and costs way less per sq. ft.).
It's like the Smart Car and its ilk. While there are specific places where it has an advantage, generally it cost the same as a standard 4-door Kia or Hyundai.
So, once the emotional appeal of the tiny house ages, the reality is that 1000 sq. ft. is way better than 500 and 1500 is way better than 1000. Oh, and 1500 isn't big.
Those people in Tokyo aren't living in those large coffins because it appeals to them. If rents were $2 per sq.ft. per month in Tokyo, no one would be living in a 95 sq. ft. apartment.
At some point, small becomes too small, it requires a level of neatness and space management that is time consuming. (must put stuff away to make room to do something else)
Spent the last couple weeks in a small (not tiny) air bnb while on vacation. Probably 400-450 square feet. Wife commented on how big our home felt when we returned.
If space is at a premium, you can do away with closets and just get one of those spray on clothes devices and spray something new on each day…..
Give people what they want. And we want bigger houses.
People who want bigger houses fall into one or more of five categories ...
1. They have excess disposable income.
2. They pay someone to clean their house.
3. They have a use/requirement for more space -- lots of kids/pets, grand hobby/hobbies, frequent entertainers.
4. They have no experience maintaining a house.
5. Spend too much time watching HGTV.
We had some of my wife's Japanese co-workers over once for dinner...they were amazed that they had even been asked.
They live different lives than us; no better nor worse. Just different...
'It helps to be no more than five and a half feet tall and have the ability to stay in the Asian squat for half the day without complaint.'
Leave it to Howard to bring in the stereotypes.
I am average American height and most Japanese men were only a bit shorter than me...many were taller.
The Japanese don't spend their time in an 'Asian squat.' They have very fine couches and chairs for the purpose of sitting.
Jesus.
I had a 500sf house and loved it. It wasn't a hipster tiny home. It was just a old two room place built for railroad workers that was added on to over the years. It had a fenced yard and huge garage. What was not to like?
Guy whose family lived in a trailer house drove by and laughed at me later, said if he had a house it would be bigger than mine. A lot bigger!
Really put me in my place.
I never thought I could live in a small space or in a big city.
But we had a 2-bedroom 1-bath, 800 square foot apartment in Tokyo and it was great.
The best part was a huge west-facing balcony with a view of Mt. Fuji.
I'd prefer more space, but it forces you to not have extra stuff...no room.
I had a friend who had been in Tokyo for 15 years and lived in a one-level 4,000 square foot apartment.
It was large by American standards and palatial by Japanese standards...
..."Meet the young Japanese who have decided to live in a shoe box." Right... in the middle of the road?
"Cardboard box?" "Aye" "You were Lucky!"
"Our Professor Althouse raises the disturbing topic...
off-blog life"
One of my oldest tags is "Off-blog Althouse."
The very first post on this blog has that tag.
And remember this?
"It's like the Smart Car and its ilk. While there are specific places where it has an advantage, generally it cost the same as a standard 4-door Kia or Hyundai."
Yes. I was also talking about "smart cars" yesterday in the same conversation. I would have thought that by 2022, those things would be everywhere, but driving around today, what I see is larger cars. The SUV is the normal size for a car and doesn't even look especially large -- as it did 30 years ago.
Aggie,
Thanks for that. One of my favorite of their sketches!
There's no word on whether this kind of life would work for Americans.
Where do you put the gun safe?
IKEA has (had?) a "complete" apartment in 350 sq. feet last time I visited. Very clever packaging.
But when two pack rats marry, our 2,000+ with garage and storage shed... well... you know.
For some reason I ended up watching this video a couple months ago so that's what I was basing my stereotypical rant about Joe.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y-1Dwhh7dEc
If they eat cake, they will fit.
re: cake
Low profile homes with bulging proportions.
'For some reason I ended up watching this video a couple months ago so that's what I was basing my stereotypical rant about Joe.'
Nobody was squatting in that video...the woman was sitting on the floor, as Japanese people often do in traditional settings with tatami mats.
And there is no way to judge the height of the people depicted.
WK said...
Spent the last couple weeks in a small (not tiny) air bnb while on vacation. Probably 400-450 square feet. Wife commented on how big our home felt when we returned.
Same. We moved from Seattle and 2400 ft^2 to AZ and was in 450 ft^2 for almost four months while finding a new house, and thence to 3500 ft^2. Wow. It took over a week to get our meager travel belongings situated (plus 2 cats) in that small of a space.
I like space. Lots of space.
Oakland recently built and opened 15 tiny homes to house street people.
Soon after, a fire burned down three of them.
It's hard to notice all the things that are not being talked about. And sometimes you just notice if the talk resumes.
It might be the "algorithm" steering my attention span but I notice a lot of "van life" video channels popping up. It reached more mainstream when the Gabby Petito murder case came to light last year.
It's the tiny house version of RV'ing.
coincidentally, I'm getting tiny house videos recommended to me on YouTube.
I checked out a couple of them, and concluded they were disguised trailer parks for greens.
I own a 2,000 square foot house, paid off, and plan on passing it onto our children when our time comes. Over the years, I've heard the culture denigrate home ownership, and now understand why. Our masters need serfs, and a man who owns the key to his front door (so long as the taxes are paid) can tell them to f-off.
I saw a one slice toaster in Walmart today. I asked my husband why anyone would want one. He suggested women who didn't want to be tempted to have two slices of bread. We didn't think of people who live in 95 square foot apartments.
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