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Q1:What are Japanese homes like?
The houses are either Japanese-style, western-style, or a combination.
A Japanese-style house is built mainly of wood. It has interior sliding
panels made of paper. Most rooms open onto a garden. The floors are
coverd with thick woven mats called tatami.
A western-style house is usually wood and concrete, and it may have one
Japanese-style room. Nowadays, combination-style houses are on the increase.
Q2:What are apartments and condominiums like?
The better apartments and the condominiums are called "mansions".
They're small by western standards. A "2LDK" mansion is typical.
That's two bedrooms, a combination living-dining room, kitchen area,
a bath, and a small balcony.
Q3:What are the other apartments like?
The regular apartments, the ones that are not considered "mansions",
are extremely small. For example, an entire apartment might equel
the space of a standard American living room. And a family of four might
live there.
Q4:Is housing expensive in Japan?
Yes. Housing is extremely expensive, especially in the cities. There
are two mainfactors. One is the scarcity of property. The other is
that we can't built real high-rise housing because of the dager of earthquakes.
This makes the cost of property in Tokyo the highest in the world.
Q5:What about condominiums and apartments?
Most apartments are tiny by western standards. We also have better
rental apartments and condos. They're called "mansions".They're
larger and more comfortable, but the rents or purchase prices are very
high. |
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