Japan's lack of zoning regs

[plam]

1) I was just trying to highlight the difference between here and Japan. The difference isn't that they can just build whatever they want anywhere, the difference is that if they meet the zoning regulations then the neighbors don't really have a say.

2) I just skimmed through their comments because I didn't really care that much, and I'm not saying that I believe their opinions are valid. The complaint I saw most often was that they felt there were too many factories in close proximity to housing (and this primarily becomes lower income housing because of that). I know you can find garbage incinerators all over in the middle of the city (I have no idea about the health/environmental effects of burning trash though, maybe it's fine). Another complaint that I am not phrasing quite as well as they did, was somewhat about a lack of cohesiveness, or a sort of chaos to it.

As I think about it though, I'd almost certainly rather live in Tokyo than Toronto (if we ignore work culture), so my feelings probably aren't based around a preference for our zoning over theirs. I'm just not much of a big city person.

Got it...that all makes perfect sense. There is chaos in that city, but again, it’s huge. I had no idea of the incinerators though. I am guessing they’re limited to what they can do with their garbage.

Looks like they burn a lot of their waste (including plastics) at high temperatures. Which is better than burning it at low temperatures, in that it only produces CO2 and not furans, but not great.

I've read about cities where you can build anything permitted by zoning, and other cities where it's basically expected to be a negotiation with council. Toronto, for instance, is definitely a negotiation city.

It looks like until the past two years, Tokyo has been growing at 0.20% in the 2010s, and at 0.7% in the 2000s. Which still accounts for an additional 3 million people out of a total population of 37 million; no additional building ought to have resulted in higher prices.