It's always fun on a vacation to see what real estate is like in other places. I recently vacationed in Japan, and got a chance to see various cities there. The most interesting, from a real estate point of view, was to see how the 36 million people in Greater Tokyo live and work. They have lots of very tall buildings, obviously, and they have a lot of diversity in their architecture. They even have one building that is designed to look like a beer stein, with a square lower part, and an upper part that juts out and is the color of foam!
Another interesting point is that almost all of their hotels are at the tops of buildings, so that the lobbies are on upper floors, with offices beneath. From a commercial real estate point of view, one would assume that the higher room rates for good views would have been outweighed by the higher rents that could be charged in leases to firms in the buildings.
The main takeaway from Tokyo is just how many people there are, yet how clean and orderly it is. There are no public trashcans visible, and they have the highest number of vending machines in the world, per person (there are even machines on the tops of mountains and in the woods!), but there is no litter. And the Ginza district looks like Times Square, but with bigger buildings and more upscale.
There is one intersection that has 2000 people cross every time the light changes; even so, it lacks the chaos and physical contact that crossing a NYC street entails. People line up for everything, and wait politely for their turn. The main subway station covers at least one city block, but looks more like (and functions more like) a mall. Departments stores have food halls and restaurants, some of which only serve one thing--and they are still crowded.
So now I am home, enjoying the peace and quiet of our little state, but happy to have seen the vastness of another vista.
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