Space

One of the most knee jerk responses from American's when talking about Japan seems to be "I couldn't live like that. I need my car and I need space." And if you live in America, I can completely understand this. You absolutely need a car to get anywhere important and you need some space to get away from all the jerk-faces that populate America. In Japan, however, neither a car nor space is required...or wanted.

Keep in mind that there are about 127 million people in Japan, which is about 145K square miles. America is about 300 million people in 3.8 million square miles, so Japan has around 11 times as many people per square mile. All that basically means is there is no space to screw around with and waste on frivolous things (like cars).

This may be one of those chicken and the egg things but Japanese people also don't seem to want a large home and especially don't want to own one. If they do own one they usually didn't get around to buying their home till their 30's or later. Renting a small apartment seems to be the way to go.

This article I came across describes the living conditions quite well. Living spaces in Japan are certainly 'small' by American standards, but they are by no means inadequate. There is plenty of space to eat, sleep, and cook. If you are not lazy and you fold up your futon every morning, you get an additional 25+ square feet of floor space! Throwing a party is difficult if you plan on inviting more than 4 people, but that is what Izakayas are for. There are a variety of izakaya to choose from, and many have private rooms if you're still concerned about your privacy.

The showers do tend to be a little tiny in apartments, but take a quick stroll over to the water hotel and enjoy a shower the size of a master bedroom. Apartment size also seems to be a matter of priorities. Keep in mind that salarymen work insane hours, so they only need a place to sleep anyway.

For those of you who still find the idea of living in a 400 sf apartment difficult, don't worry. Life in Japan changes you, usually for the better. Once you get over there you'll find yourself wanting to be outside, and you won't have time to worry about the size of your apartment. By the time you stumble back to your place you'll be too hammered to even notice, trust me.